JELP:A Year to Remember
by twelvegrimmauldplace
Summary: Who will win the bet? What happens on a Muggle Studies Camping Trip? Magical theme park. 7th year, marauder era. JL [COMPLETE]
1. SeventhYearStarts

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 1: Seventh Year Starts  
  
Sirius clambered onto the Hogwarts Express and went to find the rest of the marauders. He heard a  
  
howl of laughter, grinned and walked to the compartment from which it had come.  
  
"Hi, Padfoot!"  
  
Sirius grinned at James and turned to Remus.  
  
"Congratulations Moony, always knew it's be you!"  
  
Remus handed the head boy badge back to James. James laughed  
  
"It's my badge idiot! I'm head boy, oh and quidditch captain!"  
  
Sirius was genuinely shocked. He collapsed onto the seat behind him, leaving the compartment door  
  
open.  
  
"Seen Evans yet?"  
  
James blushed "No" and smiled at the thought of her.  
  
Remus said, "I have, guess who's head girl?"  
  
"Looks like you might have a chance after all Prongs!"  
  
A seventh year girl with thick, dark red, shoulder length hair and almond shaped green eyes appeared  
  
in the doorway.  
  
"Hi Evans, I assume you have come purely for the pleasure of our excellent company ?"  
  
Lily scowled at Sirius. "Obviously, Mr.Black, I have not come for something that is not here. Remus,  
  
you're meant to be in the prefect compartment, the meeting's starting."  
  
Sirius laughed like a barking dog and James looked dismayed.  
  
"Hey, haven't you forgotten something Evans?"  
  
"Nope, I don't believe I have, Potter" Lily turned to leave and Remus stood up ready to follow.  
  
"ISN'T THE HEAD BOY MEANT TO BE AT THE MEETING?"  
  
Remus laughed, "Yeah, come on then James."  
  
Lily stopped dead. "You cannot be serious?!"  
  
"No, he is." James replied pointing at Sirius, who had heard the joke so often that he merely grunted.  
  
Lily sighed. "Come on, we're delaying the meeting."  
  
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James felt bored to death all the way through the meeting and was, consequently, daydreaming. He  
  
was bought back to earth with a thump.  
  
"JAMES!" Remus elbowed James hard and, James jumped and saw a compartment full of prefects  
  
staring at him expectantly. "Oh, yeah, ummmmmmm, what were we talking about?" Somebody tutted  
  
and he turned to look at them. Great, he'd made an ass of himself in front of Lily again. He said  
  
something, luckily it was vaguely related to what that had been talking about, and the meeting  
  
proceeded. He spent to rest of the meeting staring at Lily and managed to listen to the rest of the  
  
proceedings, occasionally nodding to show that he agreed.  
  
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When the meeting finished, James breathed a sigh of relief and followed Moony back to their  
  
compartment. They could hear Sirius barking again and as they approached the compartment they  
  
couldn't see why. Peter turned around and Remus let out a howl of laughter. Between barks, Sirius  
  
said "ITS-STUCK-IT-WON'T-CHANGE-BACK." Peters face was red and he looked as if he was going  
  
to cry. "It's not funny, Sirius" he whined "help me change it back, I didn't mean to do it!"  
  
"Okay, okay, I'll try again, although I do think that your toad looks better with a kangaroo tail!" Sirius tried  
  
a few counter curses and the kangaroo tail disappeared. "Good meeting?" asked Sirius and added "Still  
  
in love with Evans, Jamesy-boy?" James opened his mouth to reply, but Remus got there first.  
  
"He was besotted with her, you should have been there Sirius, you would have been barking! He just  
  
stared at her and agreed with everything she said."  
  
"Ahhh, sweet. JJ's in luuurrrrrvvveee!"  
  
"Shut it Sirius!" James was just in time. Lily and Laura, a seventh year Gryffindor with long, dark brown  
  
hair had appeared at the door. "Can we sit here please?" Laura asked.  
  
Lily added "Obviously not for the pleasure of you company, Mr. Black, but because we don't want to sit  
  
in the prefect compartment, and this is the only other space available." James patted the seat next to  
  
him and subconsciously ruffled his hair. "Yeah, I don't mind sitting with you Evans." Lily scowled.  
  
"Just so long as you don't put your arm round, don't stare at me (like you have for the past hour) and  
  
don't ask me out!" James pulled a puppy dogface as Lily reluctantly sat next to him.  
  
"You know I'd never do anything like that!" he exclaimed. Sirius grinned as Laura sat next to him.  
  
"Bad luck Prongs, last year too!"  
  
"Prongs?" Lily asked, "Why do you call him Prongs?"  
  
"Sorry Lily, classified information" James said with a mischievous grin. Sirius and James started talking  
  
animatedly about their summer holidays and James was pleased to see Lily relax and start laughing at  
  
his jokes.  
  
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Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	2. Mischief and Betting

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Thanks to Crazylily54, Ethereal Dreamer and blackdragonofdeath13 for the reviews. Crazylily54 - they start talking on first name terms, maybe because James has grown up a bit and realises that he has to change (i.e. grow up a bit!) if he wants to get Lily to go out with him.  
  
Chapter 2-Mischief and Betting  
  
As James exited the thestral drawn carriages he saw Snivellus. Sirius had too and they were just about  
  
to attack when James saw Lily. "No Padfoot, let's just leave it - unless he starts." Sirius was taken  
  
aback. "What?! Are you joking? Are you ill Prongs?"  
  
"No, maybe I've just grown up a bit." Sirius spotted Lily  
  
"Or maybe you're trying to impress a certain someone."  
  
James face turned red as he said, "Maybe I am."  
  
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Lily wasn't sure what had changed about him, but something definitely had. He hadn't done anything to  
  
Severus and maybe he wasn't as bad as she thought anyway-he had been picked to be head boy.  
  
James waved a hand in front of her face. "Err, Lily-everyone else has gone to their common rooms-we're  
  
meant to go and see Dumbledore."  
  
Lily blushed - "Sorry, I was just thinking." she said rather dreamily. "How come you waited for me?  
  
I thought you'd like to get one up on me."  
  
"Oh" It was James' turn to blush. "I just..." he trailed off, too embarrassed to finish the sentence.  
  
"Well, let's go then."  
  
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By the time they had reached Dumbledore's office, Lily was bored stiff. James had talked and talked  
  
about Quidditch and nothing else. She liked Quidditch, but James only talked about his own talents at  
  
the game and by the time they had reached Dumbledore's office, she was struggling to stop herself  
  
from using a voice extinguishing spell. They sat in Dumbledore's office and listened to what their  
  
everyday duties would be and different events that would be happening throughout the year. The only  
  
difference from last year was a Valentine's Day ball. They talked to Dumbledore for about half an hour  
  
and then went back to their dormitories.  
  
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James woke with a jolt. Crap, he hated sharing a dorm with Peter - his snoring was so loud. He just  
  
did loud random grunts. James rolled out of bed and checked his watch, 7:30 - an hour left before  
  
lessons. He pulled on his robes, laughed at Sirius who was asleep on the floor (as he had been when  
  
James had got back last night), and walked down to the Great Hall. There were a few people already  
  
there including, his heart jumped, Lily. Usually he got up at 8:25 and ran to his lesson, but today he had  
  
time for a large breakfast. He decided to take his chances and sat down next to Lily. "Hi" Lily jumped  
  
and Laura laughed at her. "Hello, P-James are you feeling okay?"  
  
James answered "Yeah, you?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay thanks-it's just you never get up for breakfast-not once in six years do I remember you  
  
getting up for breakfast."  
  
"Ah, so you've missed me!"  
  
"No, I've enjoyed the peace actually." James looked hurt and was silent for a few minutes (a rare  
  
occurrence). Lily and Laura carried on talking, then Lily turned to James and said "Are you sure you're  
  
feeling okay?"  
  
"Ha, ha very funny Ev - Lily. Time for Charms I do believe."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They reached Charms early. Lily and Laura sat at the back. James sat down next to Lily. "What are  
  
you doing, P-James?"  
  
"Erm, sitting next to you."  
  
Sirius reached the lesson five minutes late, complaining loudly of a backache. James couldn't help  
  
sniggering. "What's so funny?" Lily demanded.  
  
"Well, I'm not surprised he's got a backache, he fell out of bed and spent the night asleep on a cold  
  
stone floor." Lily found herself laughing. When the lesson finished, Lily realised she'd forgotten her  
  
books for History of Magic and had to go back to the dorms to get them.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Everyone filed into the History of Magic classroom, Laura tried to save Lily a seat, but it was taken by  
  
Remus Lupin who grinned at her mischievously. By the time Lily reached the classroom there was only  
  
one seat left. She sat down rather grumpily between Sirius and James.  
  
"Why hello Evans, didn't think you'd want to sit with us. Why have you graced us with your presence?"  
  
Sirius said sarcastically. Lily ignored him and tried to concentrate on the lesson. Sirius gave James a  
  
thumbs up. "I saw that!" Sirius pulled an 'I-don't-give-a-crap' face and Lily looked exasperatedly at  
  
James. "For Merlin's sake James, don't you ever give up?"  
  
"First name terms? Good one Prongs!"  
  
"Shut up Sirius!" Lily looked at James, waiting for a reply.  
  
"No, I don't think so, so if you could just agree to one date with me now..." Lily looked horrified and  
  
tried to concentrate on the lesson once more. Her concentration was interrupted by James tapping her  
  
shoulder. "You wanna make a bet?" Lily looked at James suspiciously.  
  
"What kind of bet?" she enquired.  
  
"Well, I bet I can get a higher mark on the homework than you can."  
  
Sirius snorted. "You'll never win Prongs, don't be such an idiot." Lily considered, James had no chance  
  
of winning so why not? "What do you want to bet then, Prongs?"  
  
"If I win, you go on a date with me."  
  
"Okay, then if I win you have to tell me why you're called Prongs." Sirius crashed his chair back onto  
  
four legs and tried to intervene. "PRONGS! You'll never win, don't bet!" Sirius' eyes flashed  
  
menacingly. "Done" James held out his hand and the bet was sealed.  
  
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Please review! I think this chapter is rather weird. I might not be able to update for a few days. Thanx:o) 


	3. Sirius gets Serious

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
I would like to thank LilyE, Panda10s, Kecka Rose, h-kitty and rogue872002 for reviewing chapter 2 of my fanfic. Well, here's the next chapter! Please enjoy and review!  
  
Chapter 3 ~ Sirius gets Serious  
  
Lily tried to concentrate in every History of Magic lesson that week, so that she would definitely be able to win the  
  
bet. Sirius, who was horrified at the thought of Lily knowing about them being animagi, was constantly trying to  
  
distract Lily. Halfway through the week he annoyed Lily so much that she hexed him, much to James' amusement,  
  
and Lily spent a lesson being lectured about her behaviour. Sirius spent the next two days in the hospital wing  
  
recovering.  
  
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James walked into the Great Hall on Friday and sat down next to Remus. "Will you help me with my History of Magic  
  
homework please?" Remus pulled a troubled face.  
  
"As much as I'd love not (not) James, I can't. It's full moon tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, crap Moony, I need to win this bet!" Remus scowled, he wasn't in the mood for James' idiocy.  
  
"Well, maybe you should have listened in class and taken notes like any normal person then!"  
  
"I was too busy." James sentence was cut short as Lily stormed up to them, her red hair flowing behind her, and a  
  
n angry snarl upon her face. "Where are they?" she said demandingly. James sat still, gaping at her. "Quit staring  
  
at me, where are they?" she repeated. James still didn't speak. "Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Lily slapped James hard  
  
around the face. It worked and he finally spoke. "What? Where's what?"  
  
"Don't prat around James! You know exactly what I'm talking about!" At this point Sirius appeared next to Lily.  
  
"No, he doesn't. It was me, I took them. And no, you can't have them back. I destroyed them. Don't glare at me  
  
like that, it serves you right for hexing me!" Lily was about to explode, James could tell. He got up, grabbed her  
  
arm and dragged her out of the hall before she caused someone some serious damage. Lily yanked her arm away  
  
from him. "GET OFF ME!" James tried to calm her down.  
  
"Look, Lily I haven't got any notes either, so we're kind of even."  
  
"No James I have no time to copy more notes, or even start doing the homework. I need to go to Hogsmeade  
  
for supplies tomorrow, there's the Quidditch game on Sunday and a stupid meeting tonight! I'll never get it done!  
  
You'll win, all because of that piece of irresponsible crap you like to call your friend!"  
  
"What's so bad about going on a date with me then?" he shot back angrily. "WHAT'S SO DAMN AWFUL ABOUT  
  
ME?" Lily stood in perfectly still, completely shocked. She had never seen James this angry before, so she knew  
  
he must be really hurt. He saw tears well in front of her green eyes. "James, I didn't mean.I'm sorry, I just don't  
  
like you.like that. I don't hate you."  
  
"What have I done that's so bad then? Am I horrible to you? What's wrong with me?" Lily didn't know anymore. She  
  
felt hurt and confused. James saw it in her eyes. Her tears spilled over and she turned away and walked back to  
  
her dorm, where she fell onto her bed in a flurry of tears.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James sat in the common room feeling downright crappy. He had upset Lily and that had upset him. Remus sighed.  
  
"For Merlin's sake James, why don't you just go and apologise?"  
  
"There's no point. It will be the same. I'll get angry, she'll start crying."  
  
"You made her cry?" Sirius barked (i.e.laughed) "What the hell did you do?"  
  
"What did you do more like!" James fired back.  
  
"She deserved it for hexing me and she can't win the bet anyway! We can't reveal ourselves!"  
  
"You deserved what you got Sirius, I should have let her hex you again! Why can't you ever grow up Sirius? A  
  
bets a bet, I can win myself - I don't need you to cheat for me!" James got up and walked out of the room.  
  
"What's up with him?" Remus sighed again.  
  
"He's right Sirius, maybe you should go and apologise to Lily and promise not to be so immature in the future."  
  
Sirius scowled and picked up their map.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily heard a soft knock at the door and went to open it. "How did you get up here?" she demanded.  
  
"Oh, secret passageway." Sirius saw Lily's red-rimmed eyes and decided, for once in his life, to admit that he was  
  
wrong. "Look, Lily I'm really sorry. It's kind of awkward about the Prongs thing though and James really wants that  
  
date with you." Lily just stared at him, so he carried on. "James has fancied you since First Year, he's not that bad  
  
really, just his large ego kind of gets in the way sometimes. I don't know what you said, but you've really hurt him."  
  
Lily just stared Sirius never said anything serious. "It's true Lily, he really cares about you."  
  
"I'll apologise to him, it wasn't really his fault. Everything just gets too much sometimes."  
  
"Okay I'll see you tomorrow then."  
  
"I hope not." Lily replied. She went to the bathroom, washed her face and set off for the meeting. She got there  
  
early. James was already there. He looked miserable and didn't speak. She felt bad about upsetting him. She sat  
  
down next to him. "James, I'm really sorry about earlier, it's, well you know, everything just gets too much  
  
sometimes." She carried on "Sirius actually said something sensible earlier and admitted that he was wrong. He  
  
told me that you've fancied me since First Year." James groaned and his face went red.  
  
"Sirius, sensible? Maybe he actually listened to Remus for once." They fell silent.  
  
"I don't hate you James, I'm confused. I don't know what I feel anymore."  
  
"I know Lily, I can tell."  
  
"The bet's still on then? We'll probably both do crap. 50/50 chance either way I suppose."  
  
"Yeah, whatever." James still looked a bit sad.  
  
"Cheer up James! It won't be the end of the world if you lose the bet."  
  
James smiled rather half-heartedly. Some of the prefects arrived and the meeting began.  
  
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What did you think of it? Please, please review! Next chapter being typed up A.S.A.P. Thank you to everyone who reviewed.  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	4. Suspense The Weekend

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 4 ~ Suspense (The Weekend)  
  
At 9:00 A.M on Saturday, Lily was promptly waiting to sign out of school so that she could buy her supplies from  
  
Hogsmeade. Laura and Lily planned to spend half a day in Hogsmeade buying sweets, supplies for potions, quills,  
  
parchment and bottles of ink. They bought their potions first and new quills, parchment and bottles of ink. They  
  
spent ages in Honeyduke's deciding which sweets to buy, and then Laura dragged Lily into Zonko's to buy some  
  
tricks to use on their enemies. At about 11:30 they had finished shopping and decided to go to The Three  
  
Broomsticks for a Butterbeer or two. Lily and Laura had just sat down at a table when Sirius and James walked in.  
  
They didn't notice each other, as Sirius and James were busy talking to Madam Rosmerta. Laura and Lily finished  
  
their Butterbeers and decided to stay for another. Laura went to the bar to order. "Can I have two Butterbeers  
  
please?" Laura asked.  
  
"Hi Laura, is Lily feeling better today?"  
  
"Yeah, she's better."  
  
"Can we sit with you? I promise not to be idiotic and immature." James laughed at Sirius.  
  
"Yeah, when hell freezes over."  
  
Laura laughed too. "Yeah, whatever." James was pleased to see that Lily was smiling. He sat down next to her.  
  
"Am I forgiven then?"  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you and the irresponsible piece of crap you call your friend is too." Lily joked. James laughed as  
  
Sirius pulled a 'You-better-not-be-talking-about-me' face. "Where's Remus?" Lily asked.  
  
"Oh, he's feeling ill."  
  
"Don't you have to practise for tomorrow's game James?"  
  
"Yeah, at about 3:00 P.M, though I don't really need to."  
  
Sirius winked at Lily. "Warned you about his huge ego."  
  
Lily laughed. James frowned. "Sirius you git!"  
  
Lily laughed again. "It's one of your bad points James, I do believe I told you in Fifth Year." They stayed in the pub  
  
until 2:30, when they decided to walk back up to the castle in time for James' Quidditch practise.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily copied out Remus' notes and made quite a good job of her homework. She went down to dinner at about 6:00.  
  
James appeared covered in mud about ten minutes later. "Is it raining?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No Sirius, I just felt like rolling around on the muddy ground instead of flying." Lily laughed.  
  
"Just finished that homework James, done and dusted."  
  
"Glad to hear it" said Sirius. "Did you copy someone's notes?"  
  
"Yeah, Remus let me borrow his."  
  
"The traitor! Does he want James to lose the bet?"  
  
"Remus is far too friendly, damnit."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily had realised that James was trying to be nice to her most of the time, so she had decided to be nice or at least  
  
civil to him. She stood in the Gryffindor stands watching him play Quidditch. "Lily? Hello? Anyone there?" Lily  
  
jumped and tore her eyes away from James. "Sorry Laura, what did you say?"  
  
"Doesn't matter - this does. Do you fancy James?" Lily was watching James again.  
  
"Erm, no. I like him though." Laura gave her a doubtful look. "As a friend Laura, that's all." Sirius was standing on  
  
the other side of Laura. "I told you he was okay apart from his big head, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't hang  
  
around with him."  
  
Lily snorted. "You'd hang around with anyone who agreed to make mischief and generally annoy people with you."  
  
Sirius pulled a puppy dog face and sniffed like he was going to cry. "I'm hurt Lily. Anyway, Remus doesn't generally  
  
annoy people with me and I like hanging around with Laura too." Laura blushed and smiled.  
  
"Oh yeah, Remus is normal. Why he hangs around with you, I'll never know." Frank caught the snitch, Gryffindor  
  
had won! They cheered and laughed at the chant, which had arisen from the Gryffindor stands.  
  
'Longbottom caught the snitch again,  
  
Gryffindor have won!  
  
Gryffindor's all shout with joy,  
  
Our party has begun!'  
  
They walked down to the pitch and waited by the changing rooms for James. When he came out, Lily spoke first.  
  
"Okay, I'm sorry about the huge ego thing. You were brilliant! Maybe you've deflated your head a little bit since  
  
Fifth Year." James laughed and subconsciously ruffled up his head.  
  
"Yeah, Lily said she likes you as a friend. Isn't that sweet Jame-sy?"  
  
"Shut up Sirius!" Lily and James said in unison.  
  
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Please R&R! Quite a short chapter, sorry! Next one coming soon! Thanks to everyone who read chapter 3, and especially to all those who reviewed chapter 3- roque872002 and Panda10s! I like reviews! If anyone has suggestions, please tell me!  
  
Thank you! 


	5. I can't think of a title!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 5~I can't think of a title  
  
James awoke to one of Peters grunts again. 8:15, maybe he could grab a piece and actually get to a lesson on time  
  
again. He got dressed and walked to the across the room to the door, tripping up on a pile of empty sweet boxes as  
  
he went. He looked up to find Remus laughing at him. "Oh, you're already up, well done! Sirius, Peter, time to get  
  
up!" Sirius rolled over and stuck his arm out of the curtain to grab his watch from the bedside table. He mumbled  
  
something about having ten minutes left. James laughed "Sirius you lazy git! You'll be late again."  
  
"Don't care. Doesn't bother me. Now leave me alone!" Remus shrugged and they left the room.  
  
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James grabbed a piece of toast and walked to Charms with Remus. Lily was already there. James sat down next to  
  
her. "Done your History of Magic homework?" she enquired. James swallowed the last of his toast in one huge gulp.  
  
"Yep"  
  
"I see you're back to your usual breakfast routine then?"  
  
"I'm not late like before though. I wasted time trying to wake Sirius up as well, he's going to be late again."  
  
"Yeah, did you know he likes 'hanging around' with Laura?"  
  
"Good, I'll have something to tease him about when he teases me about you then." The lesson started and Sirius  
  
rushed in five minutes late again, losing ten points for his house. James and Lily didn't argue for a whole lesson and  
  
actually started working together. They sat listening to the instructions and instantly started brainstorming their  
  
ideas together afterwards.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They handed in their History of Magic homework at the beginning of the lesson and asked when they would get their  
  
marks back. They were dismayed to find out that they would have to wait until the Friday after next for their marks.  
  
James actually looked nervous for once. Sirius narrowly missed getting a detention for lack of homework. He came  
  
up with the following excuse. "I did do my homework, but just as I finished a First Year Chav-Student rushed in  
  
suffering from the effects of a nasty hex. I took him to the hospital wing, but it was too late to save my homework  
  
which had been covered in acidic puke and completely disintegrated."  
  
Lily laughed "You? Nice to a First Year? That'll be the day!" James gave Sirius a thumbs up.  
  
"Good one mate, if only you used your intelligence for better things!"  
  
"Ah, you know I already have James. Pass me the map."  
  
Lily managed to grab the map as James passed it to Sirius. They both groaned. "Did you make this?" Lily stared at  
  
the intricate pattern that was the map of Hogwarts and read the tiny names. "Yeah, it's our map - the Marauder's  
  
Map." Lily had to admit that she was impressed.  
  
"I always thought you were too lazy to bother with anything Sirius."  
  
"Not when it's in my best interests." He replied.  
  
"Lily, please don't tell anyone," James urged.  
  
Lily grinned, "What's it worth?"  
  
"Fine, we'll lay off Snivellus unless he attacks us first"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"You can have a kiss as well if you like," James said hopefully.  
  
"I think I'll pass." Lily cringed at the thought.  
  
Sirius smirked at James. "Bad luck Prongs, you just have to hope that you win that bet."  
  
"Hmmmm, then I'll turn on the charm and you simply won't be able to resist." Lily and Sirius laughed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The following Monday James and Lily showed their Charms work back to the rest of the class and received top marks  
  
and twenty house points each. "Maybe I should work with you more often," James grinned.  
  
"Maybe you should" Lily replied. Somehow he had managed to make schoolwork more interesting. Lily laughed all  
  
the way through History of Magic just by listening to Sirius and James' conversations.  
  
"So, do you think Laura fancies me?"  
  
"Probably most girls do. You don't seem to notice them staring at you!"  
  
Sirius laughed. "I do notice, but I don't fancy them. I fancy Laura, who doesn't stare at me!"  
  
"Well, Lily is sitting right next to you and she happens to be Laura's best friend. Ask her."  
  
Lily laughed, "She fancies you." Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Good, I won't have to try and win her round or anything then."  
  
James sighed, "If only Lily just fancied me. I wouldn't have to make a bet to get a chance of going on a date with  
  
her."  
  
Lily blushed. "Don't forget the meeting tonight."  
  
James carried on. "At this rate you'll never accompany me to the ball. I'll be a loner, standing in the corner eating  
  
crisps and getting drunk." James said melodramatically. "I'll die a lonely old man." Sirius never missed a thing.  
  
"What ball? Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
Lily scowled. "James, we're not meant to tell anyone!"  
  
"Sorry Sirius" James performed a quick memory charm. "There."  
  
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The following Friday, Lily and James walked to History of Magic and anxiously awaited their results. They received  
  
their grades. They held out their papers to compare. They had both received the same grade. Sirius looked  
  
relieved. "I guess nobody wins then."  
  
Lily smiled and put up her hand. "Sir, could James and I have our marks please?"  
  
"Lily you got 89."  
  
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Hahahahahahaha! You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out who won! Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please spend just a few minutes of your time reviewing this chapter..Please! If I actually get some reviews..10? I'll update. I need an incentive to type! I hate typing! Thank you! 


	6. Results, Greetings and Meetings!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world. I also do not own the term Pompey.  
  
A big thank you to everyone who reviewed this chapter! I finally decided to type even though I really should be doing the 6 pages of Art homework that I have. This chapter took me ages to write. I wrote it - then decided that the Christmas holidays bit was rubbish so I tried to rewrite just the Christmas holiday parts-twice. Then I decided to rewrite the whole chapter and then I typed it up! Enjoy!  
  
Chapter 6~Results, Greetings and Meetings  
  
"James you got 91. Well done both of you."  
  
"Yes!" James and Sirius high fived and Remus grinned at James from across the room. "When are you going to  
  
have your date then, Jamsy-boy?"  
  
"Don't call me Jamsy-boy. Date? Sorry Sirius, can't tell you when. Classified head boy - head girl information."  
  
James winked at Lily. "So I won't be a loner after all."  
  
"James - no. Please not a whole night! Can't we just go out for lunch or something?"  
  
"No, I've decided. I've got to go with you. I don't want to go with anyone else."  
  
Lily groaned. "Can you even dance?"  
  
"Why yes, of course I can. I'm a man of many talents."  
  
Sirius butted in "Huge ego alert!"  
  
Lily put her head on her arms and pretended to cry. "My life is (sniff, sniff) over!"  
  
Sirius laughed, "Yeah good acting Lily. Tell me when!"  
  
James sighed. "Not till after the Christmas break, then it will be announced to the whole school. Would you like a  
  
hug Lily?" Lily immediately stopped acting.  
  
"No thanks Prongs. I've got an idea. I'll get you drunk and you'll reveal why you're called Prongs!"  
  
James laughed. "No chance. I can take my drink well."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The weeks leading up to Christmas flew by. Sirius kept asking when their date was. James grew more and more  
  
nervous, Lily grew more and more annoyed. She tried to talk James out of it. She even threatened to go to the ball  
  
dressed in rags, but James said he didn't care. The day before Christmas James asked her what she was really  
  
going to wear. "Erm, something blue, with yellow too," she replied, "but mainly blue, yeah I think I'll wear Pompey  
  
robes." James knew all the Quidditch teams.  
  
"You're a Pompey supporter? They're second in the league table at the moment."  
  
"I know. I'm not really going to wear Pompey robes."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sirius and James were at James' house eating dinner. James' mum had shoulder length white hair and was quite  
  
short. She had glasses and small green eyes. "Anything interesting happen at school?" she enquired. Sirius gave  
  
James an evil glance. "Yeah there's this girl - Lily Evans and.."Sirius was cut short by James.  
  
"Shut up Sirius!" James glared at him. He didn't want his parents knowing his business. James' dad, a tall man  
  
with brown eyes, black hair and tanned skin, scowled at him. "James, don't be so rude! Carry on Sirius." Sirius  
  
grinned and James gave him an 'I'm-going-to-kill-you-later' look. James made a last ditch attempt to explain.  
  
"She's head girl, that's all!"  
  
"Yeah, she also happens to be the girl that James has fancied since First Year, and he's finally managed to get a date  
  
with her."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Petunia was bored with her sister talking about school. She wanted to hear about something un-magic related that  
  
she could understand. Petunia was nosy and not very subtle. "Have you got a boyfriend?" Lily blushed as her  
  
family awaited her reply. Her father, a short man with dark red hair and almond shaped grey eyes grinned at her.  
  
Lily wasn't sure whether to mention James or not. Her dad would want to meet him and check that he was good  
  
enough for her. She answered, "Well, no not yet." Lily's mother was smiling too; she had curly brown hair and Lily's  
  
green eyes. "Have you got any dates lined up?"  
  
Lily blushed, "I'm going to the Valentine's Ball with the head boy, James Potter."  
  
"What's he like?" Petunia asked.  
  
"Arrogant, annoying, big-headed. I made a bet with him and I lost so I have to go to the ball with him." Her father  
  
chuckled. "He likes you, you hate him! How long had he been after you?"  
  
Lily laughed, "Since he met me in First Year. He has improved over the years though. I worked with him in Charms  
  
and he was okay."  
  
"I'll have to meet him," her father said, "To see if he's really that bad."  
  
Lily cringed. "No way dad, that'd be way too embarrassing and he'd be embarrassed too."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily walked along the train station with her father. Remus was just behind. He shouted to James. James stood still  
  
and waited for Remus, looking behind himself as he did. He spotted Lily. "Hi!"  
  
"Hi James."  
  
"So this is Mr Potter? I'm Robert Evans, Lily's father." Lily went red as her father shook hands with James. "I hear  
  
you're taking Lily on a date."  
  
"Yeah, to the Valentine's Day ball."  
  
James looked strange standing next to Lily's father. James was about average height, but he looked tall next to her  
  
father. James and Robert talked for a while as they walked to the barrier. Robert hugged Lily and whispered in her  
  
ear "He seems nice." He shook hands with James again and left.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
James looked bewildered. "What for?"  
  
"Dad. I told him I was going on a date with you and decided that he had to meet you."  
  
"He's nice Lily. I don't mind."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Please, please review! I'd like to know what people think of this chapter. I would like 10 reviews again please! Once again please review! (I'm really sorry if there are any typos). I have handwritten the seventh chapter already! (My sister went into my private files and read this before I uploaded because she wanted to read it! Lol She is a saddo!)  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	7. Getting Ready

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I do read the reviews and really appreciate them. Okay, I said I'd written the seventh chapter and I had. Then I decided that it was wrong so I rewrote it, then I rewrote it again which is why this one has taken a while. I haven't had much time to write/type either due to homework overload and college open evenings. Hopefully the next chapter will be quicker a) because it's the ball and b) because I really want to write a chapter that I have thought of for after the ball. I think that the ball chapter is going to be longer than the rest though.  
  
Chapter 7~Getting Ready  
  
The weeks between the end of the Christmas holidays and Valentine's Day passed quickly. Soon it was Friday the  
  
13th of February and James was waiting for Lily outside the Ancient Runes classroom. They and the prefects had  
  
to help with decorating the hall for tomorrow's ball. Lily exited the classroom with Ladgekin Psyadull, a  
  
Ravenclaw, who was making her laugh. James felt the jealousy well up and his cheeks grew hot.  
  
Lily's eyes were wet and blurry from where she had been laughing so much. She didn't look where  
  
she was going and bumped straight into James. "Oops, sorry!"  
  
James readjusted his glasses. "That's okay. We better get to the hall."  
  
"Oh, it's you! The hall? Oh yeah, decorations." James tried to find something to talk about as they walked.  
  
He was already feeling nervous about their date tomorrow. "So, er," he cast around for something to say,  
  
"What are you wearing tomorrow?" Lily giggled, making James' legs feel like jelly.  
  
"Muggle clothes. Are you wearing robes?"  
  
"No, a suit. I prefer muggle clothes to robes, they look better and they're more practical."  
  
Lily was grinning at him. "I broke the sink today, I knocked something off the shelf and it cracked in half!"  
  
James felt at ease talking to Lily and laughed along with her. Lily stopped laughing and calmed herself down.  
  
"So, tomorrow's a sit down meal, then dancing?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Good, I like dancing, so you'll have to dance with me."  
  
"I kind of can't dance." James said rather awkwardly.  
  
Lily chuckled. "What do you mean, you can't dance? Everyone can dance; it's just that some people are  
  
better than others. You have to dance; it's the best part of the evening. I mean, what's the point of  
  
going to a ball if you don't dance?"  
  
James sighed, "Okay, I can dance craply. Why go to the ball? Well, you'll be there AND there'll be good food."  
  
Lily grinned. "Is your stomach the only thing you think about?" She laughed "And as to the 'you'll be there' bit,  
  
well I'd really like it if you danced with me, seen as I have to go to the ball with you."  
  
They reached the hall and started to organise the prefects. They worked with Remus and a Ravenclaw prefect  
  
called Reeni Tramp. They were turning all the goblets, plates and cutlery metallic red.  
  
As they worked Lily continued with their conversation. "Is James really that awful at dancing?"  
  
Reeni answered "Yeah, you literally have to drag him round the dance floor. That was in the fourth year though,  
  
so he might have improved by now." Reeni had danced with James at a Pirate Day ball when they were fourth  
  
years. Remus laughed with Reeni as James turned red and Lily scowled. Reeni had brown hair and freckles,  
  
she was attending the ball with Remus. They bewitched the ceiling, so that thousands of red tissue  
  
paper hearts were floating just below the stars. Once they had finished they walked up to their  
  
common rooms to eat dinner. Tomorrow's breakfast and lunch were also to be eaten in the common rooms,  
  
because of the preparations that were taking place in the hall.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The marauders, Lily and Laura walked through Hogsmeade to The Three Broomsticks. They sat down at a table.  
  
At the table next to them, a large group were singing Happy Birthday to someone called Harry. "Harry - that's a  
  
nice name." Lily commented.  
  
James agreed with her, "Yeah, I like it."  
  
Sirius grinned mischievously. "Yeah, I can see you two in the future, with your son named Harry  
  
Potter - I'll be godfather if you like." Lily glared at him and James gave him a 'you're an idiot' look.  
  
"Shut up Sirius." Laura hastily changed the subject. "What are you wearing to the ball Sirius?"  
  
"I've got a blue suit, a blue shirt and a blue tie."  
  
Laura laughed "Blue? Is it your favourite colour or something?"  
  
"Yep. James made me go to a muggle department store because he wanted to buy a suit and  
  
I just fell in love with it. I tried it on and it looked really good."  
  
"Sorry Laura, I tried to persuade him not to buy it." James said apologetically.  
  
Laura smiled "I don't mind, I'm sure he'll look good whatever he wears." Lily looked at James warily.  
  
"What's your suit like then?"  
  
A grin flitted across James' face. "Black, with a light blue shirt."  
  
Lily sighed with relief. "I'm wearing a light blue top. It's like a vest top with a long, wide sleeved floaty mesh  
  
material on top. And a short, plain black skirt with flat black shoes, which are decorated with a white flower."  
  
She checked her watch. "We'd better go back and get ready at about two o'clock Laura."  
  
Sirius gaped "Five hours? You need five hours?"  
  
Laura snorted, " Yes Sirius, we don't just put on a blue suit. We have to do our hair, make-up, jewellery and  
  
everything."  
  
"Ah," Sirius gave Laura a knowing look "and that takes five hours because?"  
  
Laura slapped his head. "If you want a date tonight, Mr Padfoot, I suggest that you shut up."  
  
Remus laughed. "Finally, someone who can keep him in line."  
  
Sirius opened his mouth to make a sarcastic remark, but Laura gave him a look and he shut it again.  
  
James grinned evilly. "Now he looks like a fish!" They all laughed while Sirius pouted and pulled a puppy  
  
dog face at Laura. Laura melted and gave Sirius a hug. They left the pub and walked around Hogsmeade for an  
  
hour or so, then Lily and Laura walked back up to the castle to get ready for the ball.  
  
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Please. Please R&R! Next chapter coming A.S.A.P. I have sent e-mailed updates to anyone who has asked me to, if anyone else would like e-mail updates please say so in your review and I will try to get them to you. This chapter was to past the time between Christmas and Valentine's Day. What's with Pirate Day? I don't know. Just me being weird. Ladgekin Psyadull and Reeni Tramp are some characters I created. I like weird names. Once again please R&R! Thank you majorly to anyone who has reviewed so far!!  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	8. St Valentine's Day Ball

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Okay, this chapter was quite hard to write, but I've handwritten the next one as well. The next chapter is NOT going to be the chapter that I thought of before. Thank you to Laura, Panda10s, Frozen-Petal, LilyE and Izzy for the reviews! Please review this chapter and tell me if you would like an email when I update. What's Pirate Day? I don't know I just like Pirates. BTW: The next chapter has a few swear words in it.  
  
Chapter 8 ~ The St Valentine's Day Ball  
  
James was in his dorm getting ready for the ball. He combed his hair and tried to make it lay flat. It didn't  
  
work, his hair still looked messy. Remus was giving him some tips. "Don't boast about yourself, don't make  
  
idiotic comments, don't eat like a pig, and don't purposely mess up your hair."  
  
James grinned. "Anything I can do then?"  
  
"Do talk to Lily sensibly, do dance with Lily," James groaned "and do act like a gentleman."  
  
"Are you implying that I am not actually a gentleman?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Come on, we don't want to be late." They followed Sirius down to the common room, where Remus left to go  
  
and meet Reeni. Lily and Laura came downstairs together. Laura approached Sirius. "You were right about  
  
the suit, you look handsome." Sirius grinned. Laura was right; he did look good in anything. Several girls  
  
were giving Laura envious looks. Sirius complimented Laura and they left for the Great Hall. James looked at  
  
Lily. He thought she looked more beautiful than usual - if that was possible. "You look beautiful."  
  
Lily blushed. "You don't look too bad yourself." James smiled and offered Lily his arm. She took it and they  
  
walked down to the hall. Instead of the usual house tables there were lots of small tables for two people.  
  
James pulled out a chair for Lily and she sat down. He sat down opposite her. He remembered what Remus  
  
had said about talking sensibly. "How are your family?"  
  
Lily looked a little surprised. "Fine thanks. Apart from Petunia." Lily pulled a disgusted face.  
  
"Erm, Petunia?"  
  
"Oh, sorry James. Petunia's my sister. She's horrible; she thinks that I'm some sort of freak just because I'm  
  
a witch. Have you got any brothers or sisters?"  
  
"No, I'm an only child."  
  
"Are your parents nice?" She asked him.  
  
"Yeah, They've had Sirius living with us in the holidays since he was sixteen." He looked down at the menu.  
  
"You want to order?"  
  
James grinned at Lily. "You know me too well."  
  
Lily shook her head. "I don't know hardly anything about you." She ordered an Italian chicken and rice dish.  
  
James ordered the same. "So, what do you want to know about me?"  
  
Lily sipped some of her red wine. "What's your favourite thing to do in your spare time apart form Quidditch?"  
  
James frowned and thought hard. "I like going swimming. How about you?"  
  
"I like swimming, but my favourite hobby is playing my flute."  
  
"Wow, you play the flute?"  
  
Lily looked at him quizzically. "Yeah, I'm Grade 5. I used to be in a band, but I had to quit when I came to  
  
Hogwarts."  
  
James decided to admit the truth. "Erm, what's a flute?"  
  
Lily grinned. "A musical instrument. You play it sideways, it's silver with lots of keys."  
  
"You'll have to show me one day."  
  
They finished their meals and ordered desert. Lily ordered Strawberries without cream (yum!), James ordered  
  
Strawberry ice cream. They carried on talking and eating. After a while people were getting up around them  
  
and Lily grinned. "Time to see how bad your dancing is James!" James reluctantly stood up. They started to  
  
dance and James wasn't doing too badly. "I used to have dancing lessons." Lily said.  
  
"I've never had a single dancing lesson, apart from my dad trying to teach me."  
  
"Is your dad a good dancer then?" Lily asked.  
  
James hooted with laughter. "No, he's rubbish. Probably why I'm so useless."  
  
Lily took pity on him. "You're not that bad."  
  
James looked doubtful. They danced for a few hours and James was really enjoying himself. Lily seemed to be  
  
enjoying herself too. They talked as they danced. James found out more about Lily and she realised that he  
  
could be really good company sometimes. James was relieved that he hadn't made any stupid comments and  
  
pleased that he had actually made Lily laugh. "James - it's too hot in here. Can we go outside?" They walked  
  
out of the Great Hall and outside. They found a bench next to a rose bush. For a few moments they sat in  
  
silence. "Lily, there's something I need to tell you." James broke the silence. She turned to look at him.  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
James cleared his throat. "Well, I know you think that I'm just trying to annoy you when I ask you out, but  
  
it's not like that." Lily looked at him. He seemed rather nervous and he didn't have his usual grin plastered  
  
across his face. He continued. "Ever since First Year I've wanted to go out with you. At first I just fancied  
  
you, but last year and especially this year, I - well - I." He cut off. His face was red with embarrassment. "I  
  
think I'm in love with you." He finished.  
  
Lily looked at him uncertainly. "I - In love?" She stuttered.  
  
"Yes, I love the way you laugh, the way you dance, the way you yell, the way you get angry, the way you walk,  
  
the way you work. I love everything about you." James had finally said what he had needed to say for a long  
  
time. He had poured out his heart, his true feelings - he had laid himself bare. Lily was shocked. She knew  
  
that James cared about her, but she hadn't realised that he loved her. Before the sixth and seventh year he  
  
had played pranks on her all the time, which was probably why she had thought he was joking about going out  
  
with her. She didn't know what she felt about him, she just felt confused. "James....I don't know what to  
  
say. I thought you were joking before. I honestly did." Lily was lost for words and the silence fell once more.  
  
She could feel the tension and the awkwardness of the situation. "James, I'm sorry. I don't love you." She  
  
knew she was hurting him and it made her feel awful. He was a friend, maybe even a close friend. He had  
  
given her his heart and she was throwing it back in his face.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
End of chapter 8! Has Lily made a big, confused mistake? Is James more than a friend to her? How will James feel? Read on to find out! I need an incentive to type, so please Review this chapter!  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace:o) 


	9. As a friend at least

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 9~As a friend at least  
  
It was 2 O'clock on Sunday afternoon, the day after the St Valentine's Day ball. Sirius and James were still in  
  
bed. Sirius was fast asleep, but James was still awake. He just didn't feel like facing the world today -  
  
especially Lily. He didn't care about feeling embarrassed anymore - he didn't care about anything. He felt  
  
numb inside, as though his heart had been torn in two.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sirius fell out of bed about an hour later, looked at his watch and started to get dressed. He yanked open the  
  
curtains of James' bed. James was completely submerged underneath his quilt, apart from his hair, which  
  
stuck out the top. "You're still in bed! You're getting worse than me mate. Are you awake?" Sirius tugged at  
  
the quilt and James' face appeared. He opened one eye lazily, said, "Piss off Sirius" and pulled the quilt back  
  
over his head. "I take it your date didn't go too well then." James didn't reply. "Don't be such a lazy bugger!"  
  
James still didn't reply, so Sirius tried again. "Eejot, Arsewipe, Dipshit." When James still didn't reply, he knew  
  
that something was wrong. "James," he hesitated. He was quite useless when people were upset. "James,  
  
are you okay? James, please say something."  
  
"I already said something. Now piss off and leave me alone." James spoke monotonously, without any  
  
expression. "Was your date bad?"  
  
"Awful, now PISS OFF!" Sirius walked down to the common room and sat down next to Laura, who was talking  
  
to Lily. He listened to their conversation for a while before they realised he was there.  
  
"I don't know. I really upset him though."  
  
""Are you sure you did the right thing?"  
  
"No, I'm not sure. He probably hates me now."  
  
"Have you seen him today?"  
  
"No."  
  
Sirius joined the conversation. "He's still in bed. I don't know what happened between you two last night Lily,  
  
but he's downright depressed. You've really upset him."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James didn't get out of bed at all that day. He lay trying to convince himself that he didn't care, but it was no  
  
use. He cared so much that it hurt.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James was awoken at 7:30 the next day by Remus and Sirius. "Lessons. You can't stay in bed for the rest of  
  
your life mate." They persuaded him to get out of bed and shoved him into the bathroom. After he had  
  
washed they took him down to breakfast. Lily and Laura were already there. They sat down at the opposite  
  
end of the table, as far away as possible. James couldn't bare to see Lily; he needed to forget about her. He  
  
didn't talk much during breakfast. They went to Charms early for once and James took his mind off of Lily by  
  
concentrating on his work. Lily didn't talk to him. She felt so guilty, but she needed to talk to him alone. They  
  
both reached History of Magic before Sirius and Lily took the chance to talk to James. "James?" She asked  
  
rather uncertainly. "Can't we just be friends?" He turned to look at her. His eyes looked dead and he spoke  
  
lifelessly. "No. There's no point. I won't bother you anymore." He turned away as Sirius entered the room  
  
and stayed silent for the rest of the lesson.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James didn't talk to Lily until Wednesday, when his instinct took over. At the end of their last lesson, Lily  
  
started to cry. She had a headache and felt dizzy and sick. She was still sitting in her seat even though the  
  
lesson had finished five minutes ago. James hadn't realised that the lesson had ended either and was staring  
  
into space when he heard Lily sob. As he got up to leave he scraped his chair across the floor, causing Lily to  
  
look up and realise that there was nobody else there. She picked up her things, stood up, swayed and fell to  
  
the floor. James walked over and gently pulled her to her feet. His face was full of concern and he spoke  
  
softly. "Do you need to go to the hospital wing?" To Lily his face was a blur.  
  
"Yeah." James helped Lily to the hospital wing. When they reached the hospital wing Lily realised that she  
  
didn't want him to leave. She asked him to stay, but he shook his head and left. Lily finally realised how much  
  
she needed him. She wanted him there, as a friend at least. She remembered him asking what was wrong  
  
with him - there wasn't anything wrong with him. She liked him for who he was. She been too scared to  
  
admit it to herself before now, but she realised how nice he had been to her and that she hadn't even given  
  
him a chance. She pulled her knees up to her chest and cried into herself. She had lost James and she had to  
  
get him back.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily tried to talk to James on Friday. He flatly told her that he knew about her feelings and thought that it was  
  
best if they didn't talk. She needed to get him alone and make him listen to her somehow. On Saturday, she  
  
spotted her chance when she saw this notice on the board outside the Great Hall. It read:  
  
FOURTH YEAR MUGGLE STUDIES CAMPING TRIP  
  
We will be going on our annual muggle studies camping trip to research and experience the muggle way of camping once again this year. We would like some older students to come along and help. If you would like to volunteer, please add your name below.  
  
Enya Nerak  
  
Waseid Neckle  
  
James Potter  
  
Lily added her name to the list and anxiously awaited the next weekend.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Please Review! I have written the next chapter (I think it's better than this one!), I just need to type it up. Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 8 - ShorTi, Figz, Laura, Galadrielhermione10067, Panda10s, lily+jameslvr, LegolasMirkwoodElfPrince, Kitty-X-404, Izzy and Jan. Also thank you to Maraudertimes who reviewed chapter 1 and asked for the second chapter. Thank you to Jan again for pointing out the mistake in chapter 4 - James isn't a seeker and I knew that so I have no idea why I wrote that he was. He's not a beater, but a Chaser and I have now altered the chapter accordingly. Thank you everyone and don't forget to click the button at the bottom to submit your review!   
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	10. The Muggle Studies Camping Trip

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world. I do not own The Lord of The Rings, J.R.R Tolkien or the Uruk-hai either.  
  
Chapter 10~The Muggle Studies Camping Trip  
  
James walked down the group of fourth years ticking their names off on the register. Enya and Waseid had  
  
already arrived and had gone to help Professor Cadrical camping equipment. He saw Lily stride down the  
  
hallway towards the group. She smiled at him. "Everyone here then?"  
  
He looked at her suspiciously. "What are you doing Lily?"  
  
"What does it look like?" She indicated a bag at her feet. "I signed up to help with the trip."  
  
He frowned at her. "I didn't see your name."  
  
"I signed up after you."  
  
"Oh. Well, you can finish this then." He thrust the register at her and walked away. Lily stood frozen to the  
  
spot for a few minutes, until a fourth year tapped her shoulder and bought her back to her senses. They were  
  
taking a train from Hogsmeade to the campsite. As Lily checked off their names, the fourth years filtered out  
  
towards the thestral-drawn carriages. When Lily had finished she got climbed into the last carriage with James,  
  
Enya and Waseid.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James didn't say a word throughout the whole carriage ride into Hogsmeade. He had come on the trip to get  
  
away from Lily - and here she was in the same carriage as him. At least he didn't have Sirius questioning him  
  
every few minutes. Remus knew that he didn't want to talk about it and he didn't try to bring it up. Peter -  
  
well, he was always annoying. James didn't really know Enya and Waseid and he couldn't be bothered to  
  
make an effort to talk to them. He didn't care if they thought that he was rude. They were sixth years, Waseid  
  
was a Hufflepuff and Enya was a Slytherin. Neither of them were prefects. James had heard things about  
  
Enya Nerak from younger pupils who were on the receiving end of her curses. Nerak, he thought, sounds like  
  
a Uruk-hai name. He was reading The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R Tolkien. He read through the train journey  
  
as well and was annoyed to notice Lily staring at him, looking rather worried.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They reached the campsite and Enya assigned pitches. The five teacher/student helper pitches were dotted  
  
amongst the fourth years. The fourth year students had had their wands confiscated and had to cook their  
  
dinner and survive the night as muggles would. James was grateful that he didn't have to. He had no idea  
  
how to put up a tent by hand. The fourth years had been given complicated diagrams and instructions. They  
  
seemed to be doing okay, so James erected his tent with a flick of his wand. He shoved his bag inside and sat  
  
on a stone wall. He saw Lily approaching, got up and walked swiftly away.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily had not yet managed to get a moment alone with James. He always walked away from her or some other  
  
people were there too. She decided to talk to him at night; it was the only way to get him alone.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dinnertime was a disaster. Professor Cadrical and the older students had to rush around extinguishing fires  
  
that the fourth years had been rather too enthusiastic with. By 10 pm everyone had managed to cook and eat  
  
something and had crawled into bed. The night was so cold that most of them had gone to sleep wearing their  
  
normal clothes. James couldn't sleep. He was enjoying the quiet and reading his book. Every now and then  
  
he heard whispering voices from the tents surrounding him and the outer layers of tents flapping in the wind.  
  
Sometimes it felt as though the whole tent would take flight. On particuly harsh gusts of wind he heard  
  
screams from some of the fourth years. He rolled over and looked at his travel clock. It was midnight. He saw  
  
the zip to his tent move and sat bolt upright, pulling out his wand.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily was crouched outside James' tent wearing her pyjamas. He was about to tell her where to go, when he  
  
realised that she must be freezing. "Can I come in?" She asked. Her lips were going blue and her teeth were  
  
chattering. "Yeah okay." She crawled into his tent and sat down next to him. She opened her mouth to talk,  
  
but James got there first. "What the hell where you doing outside in your pyjamas? Especially after being ill  
  
last week!"  
  
Lily blushed. "I needed to talk to you alone and you kept ignoring me or walking away."  
  
James laughed. "You needed to talk to me so badly that you didn't mind freezing to death in the process?"  
  
"Yes." James stopped laughing and looked at Lily.  
  
"Hurry up then. I do want to get some sleep tonight."  
  
Lily scowled. "This is serious James. I need to apologise for what I said to you at the ball, and for what I said  
  
when we had that argument. I can't say that I love you and I don't think that you should have said it to me.  
  
It was too soon to say something like that. I definitely like you though and I don't want to lose you. The thing  
  
is, well, I don't really know that much about you, so I can't say that I love you."  
  
"Lily, I don't-"  
  
"Let me finish! I really, really like you and I want to get to know you more."  
  
"What, like spend time alone together?"  
  
"Yeah, we can go on dates and things to get to know each other properly. I suppose what I'm saying is I want  
  
to be your girlfriend." Lily finished. She looked at James, unsure what his reaction would be. His face split  
  
into a broad grin. "I'm sorry if I scared you Lily. I can be such an idiot sometimes. So, would you like to go to  
  
Hogsmeade with me next weekend?"  
  
"Of course I would." Lily and James hugged. "I better get back to my tent." James gave her a quick kiss on  
  
the cheek and she apparated back to her own tent.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
On the way back to Hogwarts Lily and James got a compartment on the train to themselves and a thestral-  
  
drawn carriage. James had been quite shy about talking to Lily and had started reading Lord Of The Rings  
  
again. Lily had started talking to him about the book and he soon relaxed and Lily enjoyed talking to him.  
  
"When's our first date then?" Lily smiled at James.  
  
"Hogsmeade weekend?"  
  
"Okay so we're going to Hogsmeade."  
  
James grinned. "Can you apparate?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Then to Hogsmeade and beyond!"  
  
Lily grinned mischievously. "Do you think we should tell the others about us? We could keep it a secret and  
  
see what they do."  
  
"See what they do? Yeah, and meet up in secret. Sirius is bound to do something stupid."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When they reached their destination they parted and James resumed his miserable I-don't-give-a-crap-about-  
  
anything look.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed. 11 reviews! Trinity Day who reviewed chapter 1-yes, I am taking OotP into consideration. Just because Sirius lives with James it doesn't mean that he'd definitely know about James being Head boy. What's a beta? Please, please review this chapter! Thank you once again to everyone who reviewed chapter 9. Wahoo fireworks night! Please submit a review!  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	11. To Hogsmeade and beyond!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 11~To Hogsmeade and beyond!  
  
The week leading up to Lily and James' first proper date passed slowly. James' friends succeeded in keeping  
  
him away from Lily all week, apart from in lessons, and he had managed to keep up his depressed aura.  
  
Unbeknown to his friends he had been the cause of Lily's hysterical laughter during their Charms lessons. It  
  
hadn't looked like they were talking - and they hadn't been. Lily had sneakily given James a piece of  
  
enchanted parchment. When he wrote on it his writing appeared on her sheet of paper and vice-versa. Laura  
  
had suspected something, but she hadn't come close to the truth. Remus was nearer to the truth - he had  
  
seen James' face flush red with embarrassment when Lily had laughed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saturday arrived and James was nervous like he had been at the St Valentine's Day ball. He felt at ease  
  
talking to Lily, even though he still got butterflies in his stomach every time he was near her. It wasn't hard to  
  
meet Lily without the rest of the Marauders noticing - Saturday was lie-in day and they always took full  
  
advantage. He could hear Peter's loud snores, Remus' heavy breathing and Sirius mumbling something about  
  
'traitor'. Frank was awake, but he was cheerfully occupied in his own business, a date with Alice, and didn't  
  
ask James what he was doing. James took a quick shower, pulled on a pair of Jeans and a T-shirt and walked  
  
down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. He ate breakfast alone, and collected his coat from his dorm before  
  
setting off to Hogsmeade. He arrived at the small gate that they had agreed to meet at 5 minutes early. He  
  
sat on the gate feeling cheerful that he could finally talk to Lily instead of writing her notes. He was wondering  
  
where she'd want to go - during the week she had talked about going to an ice skating rink. James hoped that  
  
she wasn't serious - he couldn't imagine why she'd want to slide across some ice on two pieces of thin metal.  
  
It sounded like too much effort just to stay upright. James snuggled into his muggle coat and looked down at  
  
his shoes - comfortable shoes that muggles called 'trainers'.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily arrived exactly on time. She was wearing flared jeans and a purple fleece with a hood on it. She grinned  
  
at James and told him where she wanted to go. "I think we should go bowling," she said happily, then,  
  
noticing the puzzled look on James' face she added, "It's a muggle leisure activity. I'll show you when we get  
  
there, I think you'll enjoy it." They apparated to a close to a bowling alley in Portsmouth. James seemed  
  
rather reluctant and hesitated in front of the shopping centre. Lily noticed and asked him what was wrong.  
  
"Well, what if I'm no good at it?" He said rather sheepishly. Lily chuckled, told him that it didn't matter if he  
  
was no good at it as long as he was having fun and pulled him towards the bowling alley. When they reached  
  
the bowling alley, James saw other people bowling and grew excited. He insisted on paying for the games and  
  
shoe hire. Lily showed him how to hold the bowling balls and explained what he had to do. She put their  
  
names into the computer and took go first to demonstrate. She knocked down 8 skittles. James took his first  
  
go and got a strike. He watched the 'X' flash across the computer screen and Lily explained what it meant. He  
  
danced a victory dance and hugged Lily. Lily, however, was determined not to be beaten by a beginner and  
  
eventually beat James by 1 point. James was undeterred and paid for several more games before finally  
  
admitting defeat. They left the bowling alley and walked along the harbour to the pebbly beach. They walked  
  
along the deserted beach front, watching the waves crash onto the pebbles. James chased Lily along the beach  
  
and they both crashed to the pebbles, breathless and laughing uncontrollably. They didn't move for a while,  
  
they just enjoyed the view and the calm atmosphere. Lily sat up and James followed suit. Their faces inched  
  
closer to each other, their lips met and they shared their first kiss. After a while they stopped and James  
  
noticed that Lily was shivering. He gave her his coat and they watched the rushing waves once again. James  
  
picked up a pebble and skimmed it across the waves. Lily leaned backwards and then laughed to top half of  
  
her body forwards to propel a pebble forwards. It sailed over the waves and landed in the water with a splosh.  
  
James got up and offered Lily his hand. He pulled her up and they walked along the beach hand in hand. It  
  
was getting late, so they apparated back to Hogsmeade. They shared another kiss and parted to make their  
  
separate ways up to the castle.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Remus sniggered when he saw James and Lily walking towards the castle. He wouldn't have suspected a thing  
  
if it wasn't for..."James, you're doing a great job of pretending to be depressed, but the fact that Lily happens  
  
to be wearing your coat kind of gives it away." He watched a blush rise across Lily's face as she removed the  
  
coat and handed it back to James, who was grinning. "Can you..." James started.  
  
"Yes, I'll do you a favour. I won't tell anyone, okay?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sirius had no idea that James and Lily were even on speaking terms. He didn't like seeing James so  
  
'depressed'. He and his friends had kept James away from Lily all week, and he had used a new explosion spell  
  
that he had made up on James in an attempt to cheer him up. Funnily enough, James hadn't been in the  
  
slightest bit amused when most of his belongings had exploded at random points during the day. Today  
  
(Sunday) he had decided to offer to swap seats with James for Charms and History of Magic so that he didn't  
  
have to sit next to Lily. At dinnertime: "Do you want me to swap seats with you for Charms and History of  
  
Magic, James?" James opened his mouth to say no, when Lily winked at him from across the table.  
  
"Yeah, thanks mate." Lily finished her dinner and exited the Great Hall. Most people were still eating, so she  
  
waited outside the doors. James arrived a few minutes later. "So, what have you got planned?" He had told  
  
Lily about the explosion prank that Sirius had played on him. Lily had been right about them not knowing each  
  
other properly, he had never known that she liked to pull harmless pranks - just like he did. She was more  
  
sneaky than him and had only been caught once, in her first year. "We make it look like an amateur attempt -  
  
he won't suspect you. We use simple tricks like the classic chair pull-out and add some of our own, you have  
  
got some of your own?"  
  
"Sirius knows most of them. He'd know it was me."  
  
"Okay, I'll use my bird-shit trick, where blobs of bird-shit land on the person's head at random throughout the  
  
day."  
  
"At the end of the day, we'll reveal ourselves and our alliance against him."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed Chapter 10! anonymus L/J reader, Ti, Trinity Day, Hrei-siesn, mintytoothpick, LegolasMirkwoodElfPrince, Izzy, Maraudertimes and Karen. Especially to Karen, whose backwards name ,Nerak, I used in chapter 10 because she annoyed me one day. This chapter took me ages to write and type, sorry I haven't updated for nearly two weeks but I had writer's block. Anyway, I've already started writing the next chapter! Please, please review this chapter! Thank you!  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace 


	12. Revenge Jelp Style

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 12~Revenge (Jelp style)  
  
When Sirius went to sit down in Charms, his chair moved out and he fell to the floor with a thump. Everyone  
  
was already working and he had broken the silence, everyone turned to look at him. The classroom erupted  
  
with laughter, as Sirius straightened up and attempted, but failed, to sit on his chair for the second time. He  
  
looked around the classroom suspiciously and muttered the counter curse. "As you've finally managed to take  
  
your seat Mr Black, could you please explain to me why you arrived late to my lesson?" Sirius looked at the  
  
Professor and tried to think of a half decent excuse. He was too embarrassed to say that he'd found bird shit in  
  
his hair when he got up at 8:25. The Professor tutted when he failed to come up with an excuse. "Well, I  
  
suppose it will be another ten points from Gryffindor then."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The History of Magic lesson was even worse. Sirius sat between James and Lily. His work kept erasing itself,  
  
his chair had been cursed again and he was starting to get pissed off. He turned to talk to James and felt  
  
something land on his head for the second time that day. James laughed uncontrollably as Sirius got up and  
  
stormed out of the class. When Sirius had disappeared James and Lily high- fived. Laura was starting to get  
  
suspicious, so they decided to reveal themselves at dinnertime.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
At dinnertime, Sirius put a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth and spat it out a few seconds later when he  
  
realised that it was squirming. As he looked down at his plate, a blob of bird shit fell on the front of his head,  
  
and some of it proceeded to trickle down his forehead. He looked back down at his plate, where the worm  
  
spaghetti had manoeuvred itself to form the words:  
  
YoUR WoNdERfuL DaY WaS BoUGhT To YoU By JELP  
  
He gazed down at the plate, trying to figure it out. His main thought came out aloud. "JELP?! WHAT THE F-"  
  
As if answering him, the four letters rearranged themselves.  
  
JP LE  
  
His mouth hung open for a minute before the spaghetti exploded with a loud bang, engulfing him in smoke. He  
  
turned to Lily and James, as if in answer Lily said, "That's what you get for pranking my boyfriend. It would've  
  
been worse, but as you're his friend." Sirius was gob smacked and speechless for nearly two minutes. Then he  
  
seemed to come to his senses and said, "So, how long have you been together then?"  
  
"A week."  
  
"A week?! You were pretending all that time! James you git, I've been nice to you all week for absolutely no  
  
reason!" He turned to Laura. "Did you know?"  
  
"No, honey. I would give you a hug, but you've still got bird shit on your forehead." Laura stifled a laugh as  
  
she said this. "Who made up that bird shit spell?"  
  
"Me." Lily said, "James did the work erasing spell and the spaghetti."  
  
"Whoa, I love that bird shit spell. You have to teach me."  
  
"No, sorry. Only members of Jelp will have access to said information." James replied.  
  
"And what exactly did you need to get me back for James?"  
  
"1) You told my parents about Lily, 2) You pushed me off my chair backwards, 3) You turned my hair mould  
  
green for a week, 4) You put an ants nest in my bed, 5) You made most of my belongings explode when you  
  
were supposedly being 'nice' to me......the list is endless."  
  
"Okay, okay I get the point. We won't prank each other anymore."  
  
"Deal."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily and James spent a lot of their spare time together, talking, hugging, kissing and enjoying one another's  
  
company. Sirius hadn't pulled any more pranks on James and the efforts of the Marauders (minus Peter) were  
  
going into a huge ambitious plan for a last day of Hogwarts prank. The Easter holidays were approaching.  
  
James and Lily had arranged to have a day out with each other, well at least one day. Lily had said  
  
that it was James' turn to decide where they went. They were going to take a break from their schoolwork  
  
and revise after the Easter holidays. Sirius planned to revise only at the last minute, on the days immediately  
  
before each exam (A/N sounds like me!). Remus, Lily and Laura revised in the time between the end of  
  
lessons and dinnertime for as long as they could concentrate. James revised with Lily, Laura and Remus when  
  
he didn't have Quidditch practise. Peter spent hours revising (longer than anyone else), but he couldn't  
  
remember any of it and was constantly asking people for help.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The last day of spring term arrived and the students climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express once again. Lily,  
  
James, Laura, Sirius, Remus and Reeni played Charades on the train, working in pairs. Peter didn't have  
  
anyone to pair up with and as there were only six seats to each compartment, he got chucked out (and  
  
because he was annoying too!). Sirius and Laura won (Lily suspected that Sirius had cheated somehow) and  
  
the game finished roughly half way through the train ride. James and Lily spent the rest of the train journey  
  
talking about their day out and kissing passionately. Sirius and Laura planted some voice activated Crap  
  
bombs in the passageway. When people talked, the bombs exploded sending rabbit droppings and cow pat in  
  
all directions. Remus and Reeni talked whilst playing wizard chess. Remus got beaten for once. When they  
  
reached the station they all hugged each other before setting off in their own directions. Lily, Laura and Reeni  
  
walked through the barrier to the muggle train station to meet their parents. James' parents met him and  
  
Sirius on the platform. Remus apparated to his house.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I will try to update on Mondays from now on because I have to go to a Tech workshop on Wednesdays when I normally update. I have a lot of homework to do at the moment and I have mock exams and Awards Evening this week so I'm sorry if I don't always update on time. I will try though! To explain about the name Reeni Tramp: Reeni is a name that my sister calls herself, like a nickname. I used the surname Tramp because my sister is annoying and I often call her a Tramp. I'm glad people found the bird shit trick funny! Peter isn't in the chapter much, or the whole fanfic really because I don't like him. I'm sorry to Sirius for being mean to him in this chapter - he's my favourite character (explains why I hate Peter!). Thanks to Clever- Hermione for the spelling of swap-lol, I had another stupid moment! PLEASE READ BELOW! Next chapter: James + Lily's holidays, maybe they'll meet each other's parents. Please review and say whether you would like a chapter about Sirius and Laura's holidays. Once again thank you and please, please click the little button below and submit a review, however long or short!  
  
TwElvEgRimMAuldPlaCE 


	13. A Magical Day

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 13~A Magical Day  
  
James stared down at the list that he had made.  
  
Sherbet World X  
  
Space Trampolining X  
  
Bertie Bott's Factory X  
  
Paintballing X  
  
Escalator Park X  
  
Chandoranjuran's Excitement Land  
  
After much deliberation he had finally decided on Chandoranjuran's Excitement Land, commonly known as  
  
Chandy's. It was like muggle theme parks, except that the rides were magical. James didn't know whether  
  
Lily had been there before, and it was one of his favourite places - he wanted to share it with her and show her  
  
what it was like. They had arranged to meet on the first Tuesday of the Easter holidays - tomorrow. James  
  
screwed up the piece of parchment and chucked it to his wastepaper bin, which growled and chomped it up.  
  
He looked at the ceiling - it was midnight according to his projector clock. He burrowed under his quilt and fell  
  
asleep with his glasses on.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily dragged herself out of bed at 9:00am. She spent half an hour in the shower and the other half getting  
  
dressed and washing her hair. At 10:00am she was ready and waiting for James to arrive. They had arranged  
  
to meet at ten, but James wasn't there yet. Petunia sat down on the sofa next to Lily and started to boast  
  
about her date with Vernon, and how perfect and romantic Vernon was. Lily snorted in reply and abruptly left  
  
the one-sided conversation when the doorbell rang fifteen minutes later. Petunia stared out of the window as  
  
Lily answered the door. A man with messy black hair, hazel coloured eyes and glasses was standing on the  
  
doorstep, looking rather flustered and bleary-eyed as though he'd just got out of bed. He smiled when Lily  
  
opened the door and gave her a warm hug. "Sorry I'm late, you know me - I'm not really a morning person."  
  
He grinned apologetically.  
  
"Yeah, it's okay. You obviously didn't get a chance to comb your hair though." Lily ruffled James' hair.  
  
"Where did you apparate to?"  
  
"The trees in the park." James replied.  
  
"Okay, lets g-" Lily was interrupted by Petunia.  
  
"Lily, aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?"  
  
"Oh, okay. Petunia, this is James Potter - my boyfriend. James, this is Petunia - my sister."  
  
Petunia asked if James was a wizard, scowled when she heard the answer and quickly changed the subject to  
  
Vernon. James got bored quickly and he could see that Lily was getting bored too, so he told Petunia that they  
  
had to leave because they had booked a sherbet factory tour. Petunia raised her eyebrows at this, and bid  
  
them farewell. "Bye then. Vernon will be here soon anyway. Did you know he's got...."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily and James set off down the road five minutes later. Lily let out a huge sigh of relief. "Finally. Are we  
  
really going to a sherbet factory?"  
  
"No, I did think about it though. We're going to Chandy's."  
  
Lily frowned. "Erm, Chandy's?"  
  
"Chandoranjuran's Excitement Land - it's like a muggle theme park, but better."  
  
Lily raised her eyebrows. "Have you ever been to a muggle theme park?"  
  
"No," James grinned sheepishly, "but I don't think that they could be any better than Chandy's."  
  
They reached the trees in the park and apparated to Chandy's. Lily looked up at the enormous rides and grew  
  
excited. She had never been to a Wizards theme park and wondered if it could be better than muggle theme  
  
parks. She loved extreme rides.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They paid the admission fees and consulted a map to decide which ride to go on first. "Are there any rides that  
  
you haven't been on?"  
  
James pointed out the hugest rollercoaster on the map. "That's a new ride, I haven't been on it yet."  
  
"Come on then." A few minutes later they arrived at the 'Choc and Marsh' rollercoaster. This was when Lily  
  
noticed that the track seemed to run for only a few metres. She was just about to say something, when one of  
  
the carriages shot off the track and into the air. She watched as it whizzed around and went round in loops,  
  
until it finally came to a halt on the ground. "I told you it was good here. You still want to go on it?" Lily  
  
grinned. "Yeah, I sure do. Do you think I'm chicken or something?" James returned Lily's grin and they joined  
  
the queue.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Five minutes later, they sat down next to each other on one of the carriages on the rollercoaster. The carriages  
  
looked as though they were made out of chocolate. The seats were like that of a muggle rollercoaster, where  
  
your feet hang down. James was grinning like a maniac, which made Lily laugh. They set off; it only seemed  
  
like a few seconds before the track disappeared. As they flew through the air, Lily screamed and James  
  
laughed - enjoying the adrenaline rush. To Lily it was weird to be flying through the air without anything  
  
supporting them. She reached for James' hand as they were about to land. The rollercoaster carriage landed  
  
smoothly on what appeared to be a vast expanse of marshmallows. They exited the coaster, bouncing along  
  
on the spongy marshmallow floor. Lily looked at James' excited face. "You really love it here don't you?"  
  
James grinned once more. "Yeah, it's one of my favourite places. You said you wanted to get to know me  
  
properly and I wanted to show you what it was like."  
  
"I love it here too James. That rollercoaster was more extreme than a muggle theme park ride."  
  
"What shall we go on now?" They were strolling along, still holding hands. Lily spotted a ride that looked like a  
  
real rainbow, it was called 'Crock of Gold', and they headed towards it. The ride had seven lanes, one for each  
  
colour of the rainbow. James sat on the blue lane and Lily took the Indigo lane. The ride set off and they were  
  
propelled towards the centre of the rainbow. They slowed down as they reached the top and then sped down  
  
the last section to the crock of gold at the bottom. James helped Lily up, and commented on the ride as  
  
though he were a ride critic. "That ride's okay, you get a good view of the whole park from the top and it looks  
  
like a real rainbow."  
  
"Yeah, but it hurts your butt when you land on that gold."  
  
They went on a few more rides before going to lunch.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
After lunch James took Lily on the 'Calming Clouds'. The clouds floated around a circuit in the sky, which had  
  
clouds formed into words giving information about cloud formation. It was pretty boring, but very relaxing to  
  
lay back and relax on the soft cloud. Lily held James' hand and breathed in the smell of his aftershave, as they  
  
pointed out clouds that happened to look like certain shapes. He could smell the conditioner in her hair and  
  
the soft floral scent of her perfume.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When the cloud ride came to an end Lily and James went on several more rides before venturing into the  
  
Haunted House. They held hands as they walked through the darkness. Real ghosts jumped out and random,  
  
shocking people and occasionally scaring them. After they had exited the Haunted House, James insisted on  
  
riding the 'Choc and Marsh' rollercoaster again, and again, and again. It was getting late, and the park was  
  
about to close. Lily and James exited the park (A/N Because you can't apparate inside the park) and apparated  
  
back to the trees near Lily's house, where they shared a kiss before they walked back to Lily's house. Lily's  
  
parents answered the door and Lily introduced James to her Mum (A/N Because James has already met her  
  
dad). They invited James in for tea (A/N As in Tea the drink, not food.) and they talked. Lily's parents got on  
  
well with James and invited him to dinner on Easter Sunday. When James left, Lily showed him to the door and  
  
they embraced. They shared a quick kiss and James left.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James got home at 10pm and went to the living room, where he found his parents talking about Easter Sunday  
  
(Sirius was still out on a date with Laura). He joined their conversation and told them that Lily's parents had  
  
invited him to their house. They told him to invite Lily to their family party next Tuesday. He groaned  
  
inwardly. Potter family parties were always a tedious affair for him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
This is my longest chapter so far! It took me ages to write and type, so please review! With thanks to my sister Reeni who was actually nice to me for once. She thought up: Space Trampolining, Bertie Bott's factory, the rollercoaster starting on tracks (I was just going to have it flying) and floating along on clouds. Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 12~Ntonks1, LegolasMirkwoodElfPrince, Hrei-siesn, hpfreak08, monki, Ljstagflower4e, and TrinitysBitch who reviewed chapter 1. Also, a huge thank you to LilyE, Maraudertimes and Urebriviel, who have my story on their favourites list. I said I'd update on Monday, and I have! I am truly proud of myself. Chandoranjuran is another strange name that I invented. To Karen-review, don't just read it, review! Actually, that goes for everyone! Anyway, thank you once more and please review, just click the little button that says 'Go' on it, and tell me what you think. Thanks!  
  
TwElvEgRimMAuldPlaCE 


	14. Easter lunch and the Potter party

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 14~Sunday lunch and the Potter party.  
  
James was wearing a green shirt and black trousers. He had decided against wearing a suit - he didn't want to  
  
look too overdressed. He was nearly ready to go. He had spent 20 minutes trying to tame his hair, but  
  
nothing had worked and in the end he had just given up. He picked up the bunch of flowers that he had  
  
bought for Mrs Evans and a bottle of wine. He said goodbye to his parents and apparated to the trees in the  
  
park near Lily's house. A few minutes later he was knocking on the door of Lily's house. Lily's mum opened  
  
the door and invited him in. James gave her the bunch of flowers and the bottle of wine and she thanked him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily introduced James to Petunia's boyfriend, Vernon Dursley. Vernon took an instant dislike to James for no  
  
apparent reason, making dinner a rather awkward affair. They were seated like so:  
  
__________Vernon_____ Petunia_________  
  
Mrs Evans ================ Mr Evans  
  
___________Lily________ James__________  
  
"So James, what do you plan to do when you finish college?" Become an Auror, thought James, and marry Lily.  
  
"If I get the grades that I need from my er," he looked at Lily, who mouthed 'A Levels' at him. "A Levels, I'd  
  
like to become an Aur-, I mean Detective." Petunia spoke before Mr Evans could reply.  
  
"Vernon has already secured a job at Grunning's." Mr and Mrs Evans, Lily and James all looked puzzled, they  
  
had never heard of Grunning's. There was an awkward silence until James finally broke it. "Erm, Grunning's?"  
  
Vernon was already quite a big man and his face reddened as though he was angry when James spoke. "Yes,  
  
Grunning's. It's a large drill company, haven't you heard of it? No, I don't suppose you have. It doesn't look  
  
as though you've heard of a comb either." He replied, eyeing James' hair nastily. The silence fell once more.  
  
Lily gave Vernon a death glare, Petunia let out a burst of horse-like laughter and Mr and Mrs Evans looked  
  
surprised at Vernon's rudeness. James was tempted to reach up a hand to try and flatten his hair, but decided  
  
against it. He could see that Lily was angry at Vernon. Lily ruffled James' hair and smiled at him. "Of  
  
course James has heard of a comb, is hair never lays flat - that's just the way that it is. Have you been to the  
  
new gym yet? James says it's really good." James wanted to laugh, but he managed to keep a straight face.  
  
Petunia's horsy laughter stopped and she glared at Lily. Mr Evans looked rather amused, and Mrs Evans looked  
  
as though she was trying to fight a smile that was threatening to arise on her face. Vernon was redder than he  
  
had been when James had spoken earlier - if that was possible. He looked as though his head was going to  
  
explode. It was Mrs Evans who cut the silence this time, by asking if everyone had finished their desserts. She  
  
and Mr Evans proceeded to clear away the bowls and spoons, James offered to help with the washing up, but  
  
the Evans' wouldn't hear of it. Petunia and Vernon left nearly straightaway because they had planned to visit  
  
Vernon's parents. Mr Evans talked to James. "So, Lily told us that you're really good at a game that you play  
  
in the Wizarding world, erm quad ditch?"  
  
James smiled. "Quidditch. Yeah, it's played on broomsticks. There are three Chasers who pass the Quaffle to  
  
each other." James and Mr Evans talked about Quidditch for a while before going on to talk about the  
  
differences between Wizard Chess and muggle Chess. Mr Evans seemed quite protective of Lily, like any father  
  
would be, and gave James the typical talk about treating his daughter properly. He seemed to like James, and  
  
they talked for a few hours. James left sometime in the evening.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It seemed like forever between the lunch on Easter Sunday and the Potter's party on Tuesday. Sirius was at  
  
the party because he practically lived at James' house and was like a second son to Mr and Mrs Potter. They  
  
had insisted on him inviting Laura to the party as well. James stood at the front door welcoming guests and  
  
taking their coats as they arrived. Sirius was nowhere to be seen, although James had the suspicion that he  
  
started eating the party food in the kitchen. James received many hugs from his relatives, including an overly  
  
enthusiastic hug from Greta Potter, one of his second cousins. She stared at him in a rather unnerving way  
  
and politely inquired as to if he had a girlfriend. Lily arrived at that moment and James pulled her into an  
  
enormous hug. Greta stalked away looking rather disappointed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James introduced Lily to his parents. James' mother talked to Lily as though she had known her for years. Lily  
  
felt like a dwarf when she was standing next to James' father, he seemed quite strict, but also came across as  
  
a nice person. They seemed to like Lily and embarrassed James by talking about things that he had done as a  
  
child. Lily was introduced to many of James' relatives, before they found somewhere to sit down. They  
  
hugged each other and were just about to kiss when Greta interrupted them. Greta insisted on talking to  
  
them, mainly moaning about how bored she was. She wouldn't leave them alone, even though they kept  
  
dropping hints about wanting to be alone. Lily pretended that she needed to go to the toilet and James offered  
  
to show her where it was. Their plan worked - they had finally got rid of Greta and were alone for a few  
  
minutes before one of James' uncles appeared. He was rather drunk and smelt strongly of Firewhiskey. James  
  
and Lily were forced to endure an evening of small talk. James kept Lily amused with snippets of information  
  
about people, that he whispered into her ear.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
At the end of the party James apparated to the trees near Lily's house with her, where they finally got a few  
  
minutes alone. They shared several kisses and hugged each other before James walked Lily back to her house.  
  
They said goodbye and kissed again. Lily promised to send James a letter before school and he apparated back  
  
to his house.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 13~Hrei-siesn, rema, Kaz, Ntonks1, LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e, Ti and Maraudertimes. I really appreciate the reviews, especially when I go to check my emails and it pops up on MSN messenger that I've got however many new emails. I might have then next chapter as letters, I'm not sure. I don't really like this chapter, I don't know why. Anyway, thank you again to all my reviewers and please review this chapter!  
  
TwElvEgRimMAuldPlaCE (aka Tanya) 


	15. Letters and Piracy

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 15~Letters and Piracy  
  
Wednesday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dear James,  
Yesterday was good - your comments kept me amused! At least we got a few moments together at the end. I never thought I'd be writing this - remember that argument we had after the O.W.Ls? - But I really miss you. Write back soon.  
Lots of love,  
From  
xLilyx  
  
Dear Lily,  
You must be joking about yesterday! It was hilariously boring. The few moments that we had together were good, there must be something about those trees - we always seem to end up kissing there! I certainly do remember that argument. When you walked away I said something like 'What is it with her?' and Sirius told me that you thought I was conceited. You're missing me? Ahh, sweet. I'm missing you too flower. Back to school soon anyway.  
See you soon,  
Love from  
JamesX  
  
Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dear James,  
Don't call me flower! Anything but that! Petunia just told mum and dad her 'wonderful' news - she's marrying Vernon! I don't think that they were too happy about it. I did think that you were being conceited before - Sirius got something right. Still missing you, come and visit tomorrow?  
Love from  
XLilyx  
  
Dear Tiger Lily,  
I'd be delighted to come and visit you tomorrow. I'll pick you up at ten. Where do you want to go? Still missing you too.  
Ever yours,  
JamesX  
  
Dear Jamie,  
Tiger Lily? Hehe. Can't wait till tomorrow. We'll decide where to go when you get here. Petunia's skulking around the house because Vernon's gone on some business trip. Maybe we can turf her out and get some time alone anyway.  
See you tomorrow,  
All my love,  
XLilyx Saturday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dear Tiger Lily,  
Yesterday was brilliant. That Dementor thing got rid of your sister - serves her right for ear wigging on our conversation. Only one more day before school! The N.E.W.Ts and the Quidditch Cup Final are far too close for my liking.  
See you soon,  
Love and Kisses,  
JamesX  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
James met Lily and they arrived at Platform 9¾ together. They found a compartment and were joined by  
  
Sirius, Laura, Remus and Reeni. Lily sat in-between Laura and Reeni, opposite James. Peter was somewhere  
  
else. The three Marauders were trying to plan their end of school prank extravaganza.  
  
"Methinks I has a plan!"  
  
"Ye be thinkin' and talkin' in Pirate mode Siri."  
  
"Arrr, that be so Jamesie."  
  
"Well, methinks ye should be stoppin' Siri, it ain't Pirate Day!"  
  
"Arrr, mebbe I will."  
  
"That be good, stop now before I challenge ye to a sword fight."  
  
"Arrr, I be a good swordsman."  
  
"Ye would end up walking yonder plank and takin' the plunge into Davy Jones' locker."  
  
"Shut up talking in Pirate mode. What's with the Pirate thing anyway?"  
  
"Alas! I 'ave no means of explanation, my friend."  
  
"I 'as. I be Captain James Potter and I 'as me own ship. Siri here works as a deck scrubber."  
  
Lily gigged, as Sirius spoke. "I? A deck scrubber? How dare ye!"  
  
Remus glared at Lily. "Lily, don't encourage them. We 'as - "  
  
"Oh we 'as, 'as we?"  
  
"I mean we have got planning to do. This has to be a memorable Hogwarts event. It can't be a half arsed  
  
attempt."  
  
"What be wrong with plannin' in Pirate talk, eh?"  
  
"Arrr, methinks we should stop now deck scrubber Siri. It be gettin' on me nerves."  
  
"I be carryin' on."  
  
Remus sighed. "Maybe we should just forget about it then." He swapped seats with Lily and talked to Reeni  
  
instead. Lily hugged James and they sat together, talking in whispers. Sirius and Laura carried on talking in  
  
Pirate mode.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Marauders (minus annoying Peter) started planning their prank later on in the week, in-between revision  
  
for their N.E.W.Ts and Quidditch practises. The Quidditch final - Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw - was approaching,  
  
meaning that James had very little free time.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Updated on Monday again! Thank you to Rema, NTonks1, J.E.A.R.Potter, LJstagflower4e/JCtigerwolf4e and Ti who reviewed Chapter 14. To Ti, who reviewed Chapter 13 and asked if Tea was a food, it's not really a food. Sometimes people say Tea instead of Dinner, I don't know why. Happy Christmas! Please give me a present for Christmas - a fanfiction review! Please, please review! Thanks!  
  
TwElvEgRimMAuldPlaCE (aka Tanya) 


	16. The Quidditch Final

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 16~The Quidditch Final  
  
James wasn't nervous about the Quidditch final. He had made his team practise often, so that they all knew  
  
how to perform complicated moves perfectly. He walked across the Quidditch pitch.  
  
"Captains, shake hands."  
  
James shook hands with Julius Renson, the Ravenclaw Quidditch team captain.  
  
"Mount your brooms." Madam Button blew the whistle and the balls were released. The players zoomed  
  
upwards. James grabbed the Quaffle and zoomed towards the Ravenclaw goal hoops. He performed a sloth  
  
roll to avoid a bludger and reverse passed to Josh Matire. Josh sped even further up the pitch before passing  
  
the Quaffle back to James. 30 minutes later they had scored 90 points and were thrashing the Ravenclaws,  
  
who had a total of 0 points. The Gryffindor crowd was ecstatic. 10 minutes later, Frank spotted the snitch and  
  
sped along the pitch like a bullet. He grabbed the snitch - Gryffindor had won by 240 points to 0. The  
  
Gryffindor supporters exploded with cheers and applause, as the team flew to the ground to receive the  
  
Quidditch Cup. The atmosphere was electric. The Gryffindors flooded towards the common room, where  
  
someone had set up a table full of food and drink. Banners adorned the walls, and a huge party began.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The seven team members were continually congratulated and James began to tire of it after a while. He  
  
searched through the crowds until he found Lily. He grabbed her hand and led her away from the crowds.  
  
They exited the common room and walked up several flights of stairs. James finally stopped at what seemed to  
  
be a completely random point and stared at the wall, seemingly searching for something. Lily looked form  
  
James to the wall and fought the urge to laugh. He finally found what he was looking for and said "Aliquis verus  
  
caritas." Lily let out a small gasp as the wall parted to reveal a spiral staircase. "After you." Lily carefully  
  
climbed up the spiral staircase, with James following behind. She reached the door at the top, heaved it open  
  
and stepped outside. She was standing on the highest point of the castle, on a circular stone platform. It was  
  
already dark, she could see a multitude of tiny lights below. From so high up, they looked like fairy lights. She  
  
looked up at the star constellations in the sky, twinkling down at her. James was standing behind her with his  
  
arms wrapped around her waist. He whispered into her ear. "You like it?"  
  
Lily was lost for words. "James, it's- it's - wow."  
  
"Wow?"  
  
"Yeah, wow."  
  
"So you like it then?"  
  
"I more than like it. I love it. Thank you James." She turned to face him and they kissed beneath the stars.  
  
They looked at the stars and picked out constellations. James spoke:  
  
"I found this place last year. I've never told anyone about it though. It's not even on the Marauder's Map."  
  
"You know what James?"  
  
He smiled at her. "What?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
James lost himself for a minute before what Lily had said registered in his brain. He grinned at her, before  
  
lifting her up and whirling around in circles. "You want to say that again?"  
  
Lily smiled broadly. "I love you James Potter, I love you."  
  
"I love you too, Lily Evans."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
This chapter is shorter, but I thought that it was a good place to stop! I am going to write about 2 more chapters to complete this story, which will hopefully (fingers crossed!) be posted before Christmas. There must be something wrong with me - updating two days in a row! I will still be updating next Monday and hopefully post another chapter sometime before Christmas.  
  
TwElvEgRimMAuldPlaCE (aka Tanya) 


	17. NEWTs: MWPP

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 17~NEWTs: MWPP  
  
The timetable for the NEWTs was pretty much the same as the OWLs. Theory papers were to be sat in the  
  
mornings, practical examinations in the afternoons. The first exam was Theory of Charms, which was  
  
scheduled for Monday morning. Lily, James, Remus, Reeni, Laura and Peter read through their notes, while  
  
Sirius attempted to read through two years worth of Charms work. They all went to bed early, although none  
  
of them fell asleep for quite some time.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The seventh year students were nervous at breakfast the next day. Peter's face had turned a strange shade,  
  
supposedly out of nerves; the truth being that Sirius had hexed him last night because he had been snoring so  
  
loudly. Remus was quite calmly reading a Charms book by Chris.M.Tree. Lily and James were looking over  
  
some of their notes, whilst Laura sat staring at the plate of food in front of her. Sirius was still trying to read  
  
through his immense stack of Charms work, whilst hastily eating a plate of scrambled eggs. After what  
  
seemed like only a few seconds, (for Sirius it was only a few seconds!) breakfast finished and the fifth- and  
  
seventh years waited in the Entrance Hall until they were called into the Great Hall, class by class. The Great  
  
Hall now housed nearly a hundred small desks, and the four house tables had been removed. The students  
  
took their seats in silence as they filed in. The hall gradually filled up, and when everyone had taken his or her  
  
seat Professor McGonagall turned over an enormous hourglass and said, "You may now begin." The students  
  
turned over their papers and began their first NEWT examination.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The practical Charms examination took place in the afternoon. After dinner, those who were taking the  
  
Transfiguration exam the next day began revising once more.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The first week of exams seemed to pass incredibly slowly. On Wednesday James took his Muggle Studies  
  
exam, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts exams took place on Thursday. The Marauders, Lily and Laura  
  
had a day off on Friday, while Reeni took her Ancient Runes examination. James and Lily relaxed together.  
  
Lily managed to get James to promise that he'd tell her why he was nicknamed Prongs after the exams were  
  
over. Everyone spent the rest of the weekend revising for the Potions exams on Monday. James and Lily had  
  
two days free of exams on Tuesday and Wednesday, as other students sat their Care of Magical Creatures,  
  
Astronomy and Divination exams. Lily sat her Arithmancy exam on Thursday, and the History of Magic exam  
  
took place on Friday afternoon. By the end of the week the seventh years were exhausted and took the chance  
  
to have a lie-in before the Leaver's breakfast on Sunday morning.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Lily awoke at 12:30 on Saturday and went to the boy's dormitory to wake James up. She shook his shoulders  
  
roughly, shouted at him, hexed him and even chucked a bucket of water over him - but he still didn't wake up.  
  
She stood next to his bed and leant down to kiss James' forehead before she left. When she kissed him, he  
  
finally opened his eyes. "Can you help me up Tiger Lily?"  
  
Lily grinned at him, although she was suspicious that he had been waiting for her to kiss him. "About time too.  
  
I tried everything to wake you up."  
  
"Which would explain why I'm covered in water."  
  
"Yep." She held out a hand to help him up. He grabbed her hand and pulled, so that she fell down next to him  
  
on the soaking wet bed. "And why, exactly, were you awakening me at this ridiculously early hour in the  
  
afternoon, Tiger Lily?"  
  
Lily giggled. "Because I want you to come and sit by the lake with me."  
  
"All sounds rather too innocent to me. What's your ulterior motive?"  
  
"I thought maybe you could tell me why you're called Prongs."  
  
James sighed. "Okay, okay. Let me get dressed first though." Lily waited while James got dressed and they  
  
walked down to the lake, where they sat in the shade of a beech tree. "I'll start from the beginning. Well,  
  
Remus said that he trusted you, so, well - he's a Werewolf." Lily was sitting in front of James, leaning back so  
  
that her head was resting on his chest. "I kind of figured that Remus was a Werewolf. I mean, Moony?! He  
  
was either going to be a Werewolf or someone who flashes their butt all the time." James laughed a little  
  
before continuing with his story. "So, he goes to the Shrieking Shack via the Whomping Willow each month,  
  
just before he transforms into a Werewolf. The transformations are really painful and Moony has a pretty shit  
  
time, so Sirius and I decided to become Animagi to help him out." Lily was silent for a moment. "Oh, and  
  
Peter. He kind of tagged along with us and eventually managed to become an Animagus too."  
  
"Prongs. So - are you a reindeer or something?"  
  
"I'm a stag. Sirius is a dog, so we call him Padfoot. Peter is a rat, suits him really, so we call him Wormtail."  
  
"So you became Animagi for Remus?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"That was a nice thing to do James. Maybe you weren't such a jerk as I thought you were." James put his  
  
arms around Lily and she twisted round to kiss him. When they broke apart Lily said, "So, what have you got  
  
planned for tomorrow then?"  
  
James grinned mischievously. "Nothing, Tiger Lily, absolutely nothing."  
  
Lily snorted. "You expect me to believe that, James Potter?"  
  
"I would boast, but I know you don't like it."  
  
"I wouldn't mind just the once." Lily replied. James still refused to reveal any secrets about the Marauder's  
  
last Hogwarts prank. They lay on the grass for a while, just thinking and feeling comfortable as they felt each  
  
others heart beat. "What are we going to do after school James?" James knew what Lily meant, he didn't want  
  
to be away from her either. "Maybe we could get our own flat or something." He suggested.  
  
"Yeah, I'd like that." They stayed outside for a while and then decided to walk back up to the castle. They  
  
kissed and parted in the common room; Lily went to bed and James put the finishing touches to tomorrow's  
  
prank extravaganza with Remus. Sirius was still in bed, having slept through the whole day.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thank you to NTonks1(x2), silly lily, Maraudertimes(x2), J.E.A.R.Potter, Karen, rema, Ti, Hrei-siesn, banny, Ljstagflower4e/Jctigerwolf4e and Clever- Hermione who reviewed chapters 15 and/or 16. To Jacob/silly lily-No, I am not from London. I am from a place mentioned in my fanfic before as Pompey (Portsmouth). Also thanks to Rosie who reviewed Chapter 12. To Clever-Hermione - I might write another fanfic sometime in the new year. I'm not too sure though. Please, please review! I love getting reviews! Merry Christmas to everyone,  
  
TwElvEgRimMAuldPlaCE (aka Tanya) 


	18. Surprising Pranks:THE END!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, objects or spells that have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.  
  
Chapter 18~ Surprising Pranks  
  
The Marauders woke up at 8:30am on Sunday morning. Breakfast was at 9 o'clock. As James and Remus  
  
hastened to get ready, Sirius remained in bed. Remus finished first and the job of getting Sirius out of bed fell  
  
to him. "SIRIUS! FIFTEEN MINUTES TILL BREAKFAST!"  
  
Sirius dragged one eye open, still feeling tired - even after sleeping through a whole day - and murmured,  
  
"Shut up Remus, you eejot! It's Saturday!"  
  
Remus snorted. "I hate to tell you this, but today is in fact Sunday. You slept through Saturday."  
  
Sirius let out a short bark of laughter. "Yeah right, like I'm going to believe that!"  
  
"Ah, well. Miss out on our huge prank explosion then. Our last ever Hogwarts prank and you're not going to  
  
be there. What a shame." James was checking what appeared to be a small black box. It was roughly the  
  
size of a ring box, all the sides were smooth, and there were no openings apart from a small hole in one face.  
  
The hole was at the top of the box. After a few minutes James seemed to be satisfied and carefully placed the  
  
box in his pocket. He was just in time - Lily walked into the dormitory.  
  
"Are you guys coming to breakfast? I mean I know you don't usually bother, but as it's our last one - "  
  
Sirius cut across Lily. "LAST ONE?!!" He bellowed, bolting upright in bed, jumping down to the floor and rolling  
  
to the bathroom. "He is crazy, my beliefs are confirmed." Lily exclaimed, then, with a grin, "Nice six-pack  
  
though."  
  
James flexed his muscles. "Nowhere near as good as mine though." Lily walked across to James and lifted up  
  
his t-shirt. "Mmm.. nowhere near as good as yours Jamie." She hugged him and reached up to kiss him,  
  
whispering in his ear. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too." They pulled apart so that James could put on his robes. Sirius emerged from the bathroom.  
  
He pulled his robes on and used a spell to dry his hair. He turned around with a grin set across his face.  
  
"What are we waiting for?"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
They used a secret passage to reach the Great Hall and arrived for breakfast five minutes early. The whole  
  
school was having breakfast at 9 o'clock because it was the Seventh Years' last breakfast. After breakfast the  
  
Seventh Years were going home - they had finished their NEWT examinations, so there was no point in staying  
  
at school. They would be owled their results.  
  
Remus sat at the side of the Gryffindor table that was nearest to the centre of the room. Sirius plonked himself  
  
down opposite Remus. James sat next to Sirius and Lily sat on James' other side. James carefully removed  
  
the black box from his pocket and passed it to Remus. Remus checked it, as James had before, and let out a  
  
snort. James grinned. "I couldn't resist." Remus slid the box across the floor so that it halted close to the  
  
centre of the room. He checked his watch. "Perfect, it will start 10 minutes after breakfast starts."  
  
Sirius grinned. "Cool."  
  
Lily was highly suspicious, but decided not to say anything.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
The teachers were all seated and waited until every student had arrived for breakfast (except those in the  
  
hospital wing). Nobody seemed to notice the black box in the middle of the room. Dumbledore rose from his  
  
seat and the students fell silent.  
  
"As you all know, today is the day that we say farewell to our Seventh Year students. I would like to  
  
congratulate them on the superb job that I'm sure they have done in the NEWT examinations. I would like to  
  
thank the Seventh Year prefects for their hard work over the past three years: Remus Lupin, Wendy Destipy,  
  
Reeni Tramp, Rubin Cherry, Samuel Sayers, Reasion Arkle, Pink Woods and Christians Sands." The hall burst  
  
into applause, as the mentioned prefects blushed with embarrassment.  
  
"I would also like to give a huge thank you to this years Head Boy and Head Girl, James Potter and Lily Evans."  
  
The pupils burst into applause once more. James and Lily grinned at the crowd and James stood to take a bow.  
  
The crowd burst into laughter. All of a sudden the hall went dark. People turned their heads towards the  
  
bewitched sky, which had gone pitch black. Stars began to shoot across the sky. Most people jumped as a  
  
singular firework exited the small black box on the floor, soared into the sky and exploded with a loud bang to  
  
display the message:  
  
WELCOME ONE AND ALL  
  
James groaned. "Sirius, what's with the 'ONE AND ALL'? It's not a pantomime!"  
  
The little black box emitted a huge display of original fireworks. A face made up of stars that smiled and  
  
winked. A huge red dragon that swept over the students before exploding into an array of red stardust, which  
  
fell onto the Gryffindor students. A huge hyena, which actually filled the hall with laughter before popping  
  
above the Slytherin students in a shower of green slime. A deer galloped across the sky before bursting into a  
  
shower of yellow above the Hufflepuff students. A dog jumped and rolled across the sky, skidding to halt  
  
above the Ravenclaw table, sending blue stardust down to cover them.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
When the display had finished, the hall broke into applause once more, which came to a scattered halt as the  
  
students stared at one another in disbelief. The Gryffindor students all had scarlet hair with glittery streaks of  
  
gold, the Ravenclaws had blue hair with streaks of bronze, the Slytherins had green hair with splats of silver  
  
and the Hufflepuffs had yellow hair with streaks of black. The students looked sharply up again as a rain of  
  
Marshmallows pelted down on them and an array of stars filled the sky. A group of golden stars arranged  
  
themselves into a statement that read:  
  
Remus would like to thank everyone at Hogwarts for watching this fine display.  
  
A group of red stars arranged themselves below the gold stars.  
  
James would like to add that everyone should love marshmallows, especially in hot chocolate.  
  
Another group of gold stars joined them.  
  
Sirius would like to add that 9 o'clock is far too early for breakfast.  
  
Another group of red stars joined the bottom.  
  
James would also like to add: I LOVE LILY EVANS!  
  
Lily turned to James and hugged him. The whole hall was talking excitedly. The letters in the sky slowly faded  
  
and the black box emitted a last set of stars, which formed the last message.  
  
THE MARAUDERS (A/N this would be underlined, but I don't know how.) GOODBYE TO HOGWARTS!  
  
Dumbledore decided to finish off his speech. "And thank you to Remus Lupin, James Potter and Sirius Black for  
  
that astonishing and enlightening display! I wish each and every one of you the best of luck for your chosen  
  
careers and the future."  
  
The students started to eat. A Slytherin attempted to speak - an insult - and found a stream of horse poo  
  
being released from his mouth instead. Everyone (excluding the Slytherins) laughed and laughed even harder  
  
when the other Slytherins tried to insult the laughing people and found horse poo escaping their own mouths  
  
as well. Several people at the Gryffindor table erupted with overenthusiastic laughter and found that they  
  
couldn't stop - however hard they tried. Many people, including Lily, floated towards the ceiling after eating  
  
some of the fallen marshmallows. Sirius kept glancing towards the Hufflepuff table and it soon became evident  
  
why - a group of snobbish sixth year boys eating bacon turned into pigs. Several heads hit the table and loud  
  
snores could from Ravenclaw students that had eaten baked beans. The Marauders were laughing hysterically,  
  
while Lily floated around near the ceiling. Dumbledore looked amused and let the chaos continue for a while  
  
before finishing some of the spells. He woke those who were sleeping and helped the people who were  
  
laughing hysterically. Professor McGonagall sent the pigs to the hospital wing and tried to help the Slytherins,  
  
who kept talking a load of crap (A/N I couldn't resist!). In the end the Professors had to ask the Marauders for  
  
help. The Marauders told them, through laughs, that the spell would wear off when the Seventh Year students  
  
boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home. Each person floating near the ceiling had to be floated down to the  
  
ground slowly, to prevent them from incurring any injuries. Lily hit James repeatedly.  
  
"You could have told me, you great git! I do not appreciate floating near the ceiling like I'm some sort of  
  
helium balloon!" James couldn't help it - he laughed even harder, which only infuriated Lily even more. He  
  
stopped laughing when he received a large envelope containing some sort of deeds, but continued with his  
  
laughter after he had read the documents.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
The Seventh Years boarded the Hogwarts Express after packing and saying goodbye to the teachers and  
  
younger students. James still couldn't contain his laughter and sat in a train compartment talking about the  
  
morning's events with Remus and Sirius. Laura and Lily, who were bored stiff and rather annoyed by the  
  
morning's events, sat in a different compartment. Lily was particularly peeved that her hair would remain  
  
scarlet with glittery gold streaks for an entire week. James came looking for Lily when his laughter had finally  
  
subsided. "Lily, I'm sorry. I should've warned you about the marshmallows."  
  
"It's okay James."  
  
"And I wanted to give you these." He held up a set of keys. Lily stared at them in silence, then -  
  
"What are they - "  
  
"Keys."  
  
"I know that, I'm not that stupid! What are they for?"  
  
The train was coming to a halt at the station. James stepped out of the compartment carrying both his and  
  
Lily's suitcases, which he had previously made featherlight.  
  
"I'll show you what they're for."  
  
Lily and James walked to The Leaky Cauldron, where they used floo powder to arrive at a pub near the  
  
Thames. James handed Lily a small piece of paper, which had 'JELP: Number 10, Waterstar Apartments,  
  
London'. Lily thought about the words and an apartment block arose in front of her. James opened the door to  
  
the lobby and entered a lift to take them to the top floor. Lily unlocked the door and stepped inside. James  
  
looked nervous as he awaited her opinion. "Do you like it?"  
  
Lily looked into his hazel eyes. "James, I absolutely love it."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~  
  
THE END!  
  
I might write a short fanfic about James' proposal to Lily, the wedding preparations, the wedding and the wedding reception. I didn't write Moony, Prongs and Padfoot in the sky part in the Great Hall because people would've known that James was Prongs which could've led to suspicion. Thank you to Delia Black, 1MonkeyGurl1, Ti, NTonks1, LJstagflower4e/Jctigerwolf4e, Fir3fly, Maraudertimes, Karen and slate07  
  
for reviewing chapter 17. Please review this chapter!! Thank you once again, Happy New Year, Happy 2004 and farewell, until my next fanfic, from me.  
  
Twelvegrimmauldplace (aka Tanya) 


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